The Adventures of Kendra and Nadia
by darkstorm5000
Summary: Take a look at the Degrassi Universe through the eyes of two of it's lesser known characters. This story does deal with some rather intense topics. Final Chapter Added.
1. Up in my room

Disclaimer: I don't own any Degrassi or any of it's characters . 'Nuff said.

A/N: I decided to write this story about Kendra and Nadia because they are good friends and don't get much exposure on the show. This is my first fanfic, so it probably won't be the greatest story you've ever read. This story starts around the beginning of Season 3, but events that unfold are interpreted through the two girls point of view. A lot of the situations are taken directly from the series, but some events will be from me. It mainly focuses on their friendship, but I'll throw in some drama every so often to spice things up…..

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Another year at Degrassi C.S. had just begun for Kendra Mason and Nadia Jamir, both of whom were in grade eight. These two girls have been best friends since grade 5, ever since Nadia transferred from a school for the physically challenged to public school. Nadia was, for the most part, soft-spoken and introverted whereas Kendra always said what was on her mind. Kendra was also very athletic, which is something Nadia wished that she could be. What Nadia didn't realize was that Kendra always thought Nadia was the stronger of the two, because of the way she handled her physical hardships. Nadia didn't let being in a wheelchair become a handicap; she lived her life to the fullest. She participated in school activities such as student council, as well as being a part of the junior spirit squad. She wasn't able to jump and flip like everybody else, but she could yell louder than anyone at the Degrassi sporting events. She was also active in groups that promoted the rights of the physically challenged.

Today the girls were spending a beautiful Saturday at Kendra's house. Kendra's room was a beautiful combination of light blue and yellow. On one wall she had a poster of Mia Hamm hanging up. On another wall she had a Maple Leaf's flyer pinned up. Nadia was sitting there on Kendra's bed, surrounded by a mountain of Anime books and magazines, while Kendra was seated at her computer.

"Nadia, throw me that magazine right by you."

"Which one?" Nadia replied.

Kendra pointed and said, "The one that says Shonen Jump on the front."

"Here you go. What are you doing anyway?" Nadia questioned, while tossing the somewhat heavy magazine.

"There's a panel inside that I wanted to talk about on my Anime chat room. I need to know which page to tell him about."

"Him? Are you talking about Toby?"

"No." Kendra said reluctantly "Just somebody I chat with occasionally. I think he's from the States."

"Sounds romantic, I bet Toby must be jealous." Nadia ribbed.

"Toby?" Kendra paused,  "Toby hardly notices I exist anymore. He spends most of his time either trying to hangout with J.T., Paige and Spinner or he's complaining about how J.T. doesn't notice him when Paige is around. It's like he thinks being part of her 'I-Can't-Think-For-Myself club' should be his number one priority. "

"Wow, Kendra, I thought you got along with your brother's girlfriend?"

"We do, sort of. She has been a lot nicer since she started dating my brother, not only to me, but just in general. Its not like I hate her or anything, its just that we don't have much in common. She's Miss Popularity and I'm just Spinner's tomboy sister to her."

Right at that moment, almost on cue, there was a knock at Kendra's door.


	2. You've got to be kidding me!

"Kendra, can I come in?" asked Spinner.

"What do you want?" She replied.

"Well for starters, I don't feel like having a conversation with a door!" Spinner shouted, as he faced Kendra's bedroom door.

"Come in." Kendra said to him.

"Look, Paige and her brother are picking me and a few others up in his van, and we're heading to the beach. I just wanted to make sure you two were going to be all right."

"Spinner I'm thirteen years old, I think I can take care of myself." Kendra retorted.

"Actually I can count to thirteen and I'm also aware that you can walk, talk, and do other amazing things. My point is, there won't be anybody here for awhile to help Nadia down the stairs if she needs to leave." Spinner said sarcastically.

"I'm spending the night, but thanks for being so concerned." Nadia gushed.

"Um, sure, no problem." Spinner said as left the bedroom.

Kendra was surprised by the look on her friends face. Nadia had this rescued puppy dog look that made Kendra shriek.

"Gross! You have a crush on Spinner, he's a jerk, and he's my brother, and….. well, he's a jerk."

"Yeah, but he's NOT my brother." Nadia replied. "Besides, he's never been anything but nice to me."

"You haven't seen the real Spinner, just the side he shows for his girlfriend and guests. The real Spinner is loud, obnoxious, and he does this really disgusting thing with spray cheese."

"Oh well, Kendra. A girl can have her fantasy, can't she?" Nadia confessed.

"I'm going to get a snack and change the subject all at the same time, do you want anything Nadia?"

"A soda'll be fine." Nadia replied with a smile, still thinking about Kendra's brother.


	3. Nadia's Secret

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi, but the characters I create are mine.

A/N: In this chapter I'm going to introduce two new characters. They are Alexandria Knight, Allie for short, and Brandy Jamison.

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It was a typical Monday morning and Degrassi was abuzz with students and teachers returning to face another school week. Nadia was at her locker getting some books that she would need for her morning classes. Just then, a young girl came up behind Nadia, who caught the eye of some of the boys in the hallway. She had red flowing hair and a build that made some of the guys think that she was a grade or two older than she really was.

"Hi Nadia." she said.

"Oh, hi Allie." Nadia replied, "How was your weekend?"

"Great! I met this really cute guy at the mall and we spent the whole day hanging out, him and his friends. How about you?"

"Well, I spent Saturday at Kendra's. I stayed overnight and than came back home Sunday. We had sooo much fun, you should've been there."

Allie asked, "Where is Kendra anyway?"

"I don't know? She hasn't made it to school yet." Nadia told her.

"Well I've got to get to class, I have a killer test in English this morning, so I'll see you at lunch." Allie said as she turned to walk down the hallway.

Nadia thought to herself about how happy she was to have friends like Kendra, Brandy and Allie. They didn't treat her like 'that girl in the wheelchair', but like 'one of the girls', who happened to be in a wheelchair. That's why Nadia had been trying so hard to hide the pain that she had been recently experiencing. Of them, only Kendra had seen her when her health had gotten really bad. Nadia remembered one time when Kendra came to visit her in the hospital. Kendra actually broke down crying at the sight of her friend in that hospital bed. Nadia vowed to herself that, if she could help it, she would make sure that the usually strong and poised girl wouldn't have to see her like that again. But Nadia knew that things were getting pretty serious. Which meant a trip to the hospital, and it scared Nadia every single time that she went. She never told anybody about the horrible nightmares that it gave her sometimes. Just then, the tardy bell snapped her back to consciousness and she realized that she had better get to class.

At lunch, the cafeteria was full of students moving about between the chairs and tables, trying to locate their friends. Brandy, a lean and athletic young girl, entered the lunchroom through its' huge doors. She had beautiful, chocolate toned skin and her hair was tied back in long braids that had light brown highlights. She stood at the door, looking for her friends when she spotted Kendra, Allie, and Nadia at a table outside of the cafeteria on the grounds. She strode through the cafeteria to another set of doors that led her outside.

"Hey guys, I see that you decided to start the party without me." Brandy proclaimed.

"What party?" Nadia answered, "We're just listening to Kendra wow us with her tales of tardiness."

"It's all because of my stupid brother!" Kendra exclaimed, "If he didn't spend the entire morning trying to make himself look perfect for Paige, we both would have been here on time. I even told Mr. Simpson that, but he didn't agree with me and he gave me a warning telling me not to be late again."

"Speaking of Simpson," Brandy stated, "How's your fundraiser with the spirit squad going?"

Nadia began, "Well we've raised twenty-five dollars, and our goal is fifty."

"I heard that the group working with Ms. Hatzilakos has already reached fifty dollars and expects to triple that by the deadline." Allie informed them.

"Just great, Liberty's gonna have a cow!" Nadia sighed, "I'd better go tell her."

"I'll go with you." Allie said.

The two girls went inside the school building and found Liberty walking through the hallway towards the foyer, where a lot of students liked to assemble during lunch.

"Liberty, wait for a minute." Nadia called out to her.

"What's the matter Nadia? I was just on my way to the foyer to meet with Simpson." she replied.

"I have some bad news" Nadia started, "The latest news around school is that Ms. Hatzilakos is in the lead for the fundraiser. I wanted to let you know and see if maybe you or Manny had any ideas that would help us catch up."

"That's unfortunate, but I'll brainstorm with Mr. Simpson and see what we can come up with. Thanks for the message, I'll talk to you later." Liberty said, as she continued down the hall.

"Well, do you want to go back to the cafeteria?" Allie asked.

"No thanks, class is about to begin and I had better get a head start." Nadia replied.

"Alright, are you coming to the girls soccer game after school?"

"I wish I could, but I have a doctor's appointment today and my Mom is picking me up early." Nadia explained.

"Okay, I guess I'll see you tomorrow." Allie told her.

"See ya." Nadia said as she wheeled away.


	4. Liar, Liar pants on

A/N: Thanks to everybody who have given me positive feedback on my story. Your comments have encouraged me to continue writing. Anyways, back to the story…..

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The ringing of the telephone could be heard throughout the house.

"Hello."

"Nadia, this is Kendra. I was calling to see how you were doing. Allie said you had to go see your doctor."

"Everything…is fine, just a routine visit." Nadia assured her friend, "So, what are you up to?"

"I'm just watching Survivor. I bet I could kick some major butt on there. Nobody would take a kid seriously, so they wouldn't be expecting my combination of skill and agility." Kendra bragged.

"It sounds like you could win on confidence alone." Nadia assured her.

"Yeah. Hey, after you and Allie left the cafeteria today, guess who came strutting by in her _least_ conservative outfit to date?" Kendra asked mockingly.

"You must be talking about _Manuella_ Santos." Nadia said with a heavy emphasis on her first name, "and don't you mean her trashiest outfit to date?"

"Yeah, I do. I mean, I used to look up to Manny. That is, until she started treating me like dirt just because I don't try to act like a mindless 'Cosmo-Girl Clone' like her. I even heard that she's not going out for the field hockey team this spring."

Just then, Nadia heard a loud slam from the other side of the line.

"Kendra, is everything alright over there?" Nadia asked with a sense of worry.

"It sounds like Spinner's home from his date. I think I'm gonna go see what's wrong, so I'll talk to you at school tomorrow." Kendra said as she started to get up.

"Bye." Nadia said as she hung up.

Kendra got up from the sofa and went to the front hallway where she saw Spinner. He looked like a bomb had been dropped on him.

Kendra thought to herself,  "Maybe Paige has finally done it, maybe she realized that she could do better than Spinner and she finally dumped him?"

"What's the matter, having woman troubles?" Kendra inquired as she walked into the entrance area.

"Don't start with me, I'm not in the mood!" Spinner shouted.

"Sorry, just figured you could use a shoulder to cry on after losing 'Ms. Perfect'." Kendra said, somewhat sarcastically.

"What makes you think that out of all the shoulders in the world, that I would want to cry on yours? Besides, this has nothing to do with Paige and me. It has to do with people that are supposed to be you friend, but they do nothing but lie to you." Spinner sharply replied.

Spinner marched past Kendra, semi-shoving her out of the doorway. Un-phased, she followed him into the family room.

"Whoa, you really are upset. What, did everyone discover your charming personality is just an act?" Kendra continued ribbing him.

"Do you really want to know?" Spinner said with a look of dead seriousness.

"Sure."

"Where are Mom and Dad?" Spinner asked.

"Mom's working late and it's Dad's bowling night. Now you're really starting to worry me, what's the big secret?"

"You know Marco?"

"Yeah, Spinner. He comes over almost as much as Jimmy." Kendra answered, "You still haven't gotten to the point."

"Tonight, me and Paige double dated with him and Hazel. I set him up with the second hottest girl at Degrassi and he makes a total idiot out of me. After months of lying about having this hot and heavy relationship with Ellie, he tells me that he's gay!"

"Yeah, and…"

"There is no and…..I just told you that he admitted he was gay, and I don't mean as in happy. I mean, as in he likes dudes." Spinner finished.

"It may be a big surprise to you, but not everyone in the world is freaked out by homosexuality." Kendra explained.

"How can you say that word like it's no big deal?" Spinner asked with an uneasy expression.

"Oh, it's easy. Just sound it out slowly with me, Ho-mo-…" Kendra continued teasing her brother, but Spinner quickly interrupted.

"I knew it was a mistake to even try to explain anything to an immature brat like you."

"I'm not a brat, but come on. I don't know why you're so freaked out by this. Didn't you tell me that Paige's brother is gay and isn't trying to hide it? If you plan on joining the Michalchuk clan one day, it seems like you should get used to the idea." Kendra tried to point out.

"Dylan's a completely different situation. Marco has been lying to me ever since I met him, just waiting for the right opportunity to spring this on me. Well, I'm going to expose him for the liar that he is." Spinner resolved.

"I seriously doubt he hid being gay just to try and trick you." Kendra tried to tell her brother, "I hope you don't go and ruin a good friendship with whatever it is you've got planned."

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Next chapter: Kendra decides to take action and help a cause greater than herself. Meanwhile, Nadia has to help plan the Grade 7/8 dance.


	5. Things can change in an instant

"Do you really think he's going to go through with it?"

"I don't know? He said he would do it if his group kept up their end of the deal."

"Well, Kendra, Brandy, we helped Manny raise two hundred dollars and we beat Ms. Hatzilakos' group. So, I guess that should be a definite yes."

Nadia, Kendra, and Brandy watched along with the rest of their school as their MI teacher, Mr. Simpson, prepared himself for the haircut of his life. He had promised to shave his head bald in front of the entire school as a way to inspire his students to raise the most money in their fundraiser. Most of those gathered around the foyer didn't believe a teacher would humiliate himself in public for the sake of his students. But then again, Mr. Simpson wasn't like most teachers.

"I think Sheila is getting a bigger kick out of this, than any of us are." Brandy observed.

After some words of encouragement, Sheila took the clippers and proceeded to create her own version of living art. After only a few minutes of work, Archie Simpson looked like a new man.

"I don't know? His head sorta looks like a giant cue ball." Brandy pointed out.

"Maybe, but he looks like he couldn't be happier." Nadia noticed.

"His new stepdaughter seems to be less than thrilled." Kendra stated, as tears were rolling down the face of Emma Nelson. "I'll see if she's alright when I talk to her later."

"What's happening later?" Brandy asked.

"I heard that Emma's starting a new environmental club and I was thinking of joining." Kendra answered, "Why don't you two sign up with me."

"No thanks." Brandy quickly replied, "I'm busy enough with sports and the accelerated classes I'm taking."

"What about you Nadia?"

"I don't know Kendra, I may be able to participate on a part-time basis. But with the upcoming dance, I'm going to be spending most of my free time working with the planning committee."

Kendra looked and saw Emma and Mr. Simpson outside in, what seemed to be, an emotional conversation. She decided it would probably be better if she talked to Emma later in the day. Just as she was about to go to her locker, Toby walked by.

"Hi Toby." She greeted him.

"Hi." He replied in a less than enthusiastic voice. "Have you seen J.T.?"

"I saw him earlier in the foyer, but I think he went somewhere with Paige." Kendra replied.

"Thanks, I'll see you later." Toby said as he continued down the hallway.

Kendra stood there for a moment wondering what had happened to her and Toby. She remembered not too long ago when they were almost inseparable. But Toby wanted their relationship to move faster than she was ready for. Things had really been strained since the day she blew up at Toby, the day she found out he and J.T. had bought condoms at the local corner store. It didn't help matters that Spinner had publicly embarrassed J.T. by turning him into the "Human Glow Worm". Ever since then, Toby seemed afraid to even hold her hand in public. Sometimes she was glad to have an older brother that looked out for her, but most of the time she wished he would just mind his own business. Its not like she was that same six year old girl that would run to her room crying when somebody at the playground would say something mean to her…

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(Flashback about seven years…)

A young, eight year-old boy could hear muffled noises coming from his little sister's room.

"Kendra, what's wrong?"

"Nuthin' Spinner, just leave me alone!" she replied.

"Jimmy was at the jungle gyms. He said he saw you playing baseball at the park and you ran away and he tried to catch you but he couldn't, so tell me what's wrong." Young Spinner insisted.

"They…called me…a mean name." Kendra said in between her sobs.

Kendra told him about the events that had just occurred a few minutes beforehand. She wanted to play baseball with the older boys, but they told her that she was too little. But she was Spinner's sister. Anything he could do, she knew she could also do. They finally said okay and told her to grab the bat, which was almost as tall as her. They pitched the ball to her and they were shocked when she hit a homerun out of the peewee league baseball field. One of the boys told her he bet that she couldn't do it again. She grabbed the bat and steadied her small frame and waited for the pitch. The boy, who had doubted her, threw the fastest, hardest pitch he could muster. The results were the same, another boy was left with the task of jumping the low wired fence to retrieve the baseball. Kendra then asked which side she was playing on?

"He told me I got lucky and they didn't play with girls, especially-"

Spinner heard the words come out of his sister's mouth, but they hit him like a tidal wave. He knew what they meant, but they took on an entirely new meaning when some dummy used them against his sister. Ever since the day his parents had brought her home, they had taught him that some people might look at her or treat her differently. But those people were just dummies that didn't know how to understand that beautiful things come in all kinds of shapes, colors, and packages. Those few words Kendra repeated to him sent a rage in Spinner that he had never felt before. He picked up his baby sister from her bed and led her downstairs with him.

"Spin." Young Jimmy asked, "Is Kendra okay? Where are you two going?"

"We're going back to the park, there's something I have to do." He replied…

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Back in the present, Kendra had a slight smirk on her face when she remembered the sight of her brother running onto the pitcher's mound, tackling the pitcher from behind. He then proceeded to chase all of the boys around the diamond with a baseball bat, threatening to break all of their legs for messing with his little sister. It took Jimmy throwing Spinner to the ground and holding him there before he would calm down.

"Big, lovable, jerk." Kendra sighed to herself.

That night Kendra was in her room doing her homework, when she heard the doorbell ring. After the fourth ring her concentration was shot and she went to answer the door. She was somewhat surprised to see Paige standing on her front porch, this late in the evening.

"Kendra, can I come in?" she asked.

"Sure, is everything alright?" Kendra questioned.

Paige didn't answer and everything didn't look all right, judging by the expression on Paige's face. She had this look of hurt that made Paige seem extremely vulnerable, something Kendra had never seen before.

"Is Spinner still awake, I really need to talk to him?"

"Yeah, he's in the den, I'll tell him you're here."

Kendra walked to the back of the house where the family room was.

"Um, Spinner, Paige is here to see you."

Spinner jumped up from the sofa where he had been watching T.V., trying his best to fix his hair and look presentable for the love of his life. Kendra saw Paige's expression change to one of pure hatred, a look she hadn't seen since before Paige became close to Spinner. Kendra walked back to the kitchen where she could hear everything, but still remain inconspicuous.

"I just came to tell you. We-Are-Through!" Paige said resolutely.

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Heh, betcha didn't see that one coming. To be continued soon…


	6. Understanding

A/N: Thanks for all of the positive reviews and feedback.

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Let the drama ensue… 

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Spinner was standing in front of Paige Michalchuk, the love of his life, with a stunned expression on his face.

"I didn't stutter. What I'm saying is that I don't want to be the girlfriend of some hateful, homophobic, moron!"

"Paige what, in the world, are you talking about?" Spinner exclaimed.

"I can explain with four simple words. Marco-is-a-fag." She yelled back. "It's funny how quickly rumors spread in high school. Marco told Ellie about what you did and she told Ashley about it. Guess who the next person to find out was?"

"Its not like I made it up." Spinner retaliated, "I heard it straight from the horses mouth."

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure Marco didn't tell you so you could go and inform the entire school about his deepest secret. Do you even realize what kind of position you've put me in? I do have a brother that's gay." Paige informed him.

"Paige I'm not suddenly suffering from memory loss, I have met Dylan."

"It sounds more like you're suffering from brain damage. There's something I've never told you about Dylan. Remember when Dylan left last year to spend some time with our relatives outside of Vancouver."

"Yeah, so."

"Well," Paige continued, "that's not exactly the truth. He wasn't staying with relatives. He ran away from home. He left after his girlfriend told all of their friends that he was gay. He had kept it a secret from everybody, even from me. He was really worried about what would happen once we found out. For the better part of last year we would only get occasional calls from him. He would call to let us know that he hadn't wound up in a ditch somewhere. Finally we were able to convince him that we loved him, _no matter what_. I never want him to feel uncomfortable around me or feel like he can't trust me." Paige was almost on the verge of tears. "I don't think I could take him running away like that again."

"I still don't get what this has to do with me."

"Marco was jumped and beaten up before Dylan's hockey game last night. What if those thugs saw your little artwork and put two and two together?" Paige replied.

"No way." Spinner interjected, "Its like I told Jimmy, I had nothing to do with what happened to Marco."

"Bullshit!" Paige interrupted, "I've seen how hard it is for someone to come out. Its people like you that give them a hard time that make it worse. They feel like they have to hide who they are, which hurts just as much as being punched in the face. I can't be a part of that and I can't be with you if that's how you're going to act."

"Hold up, you're way off base! Its not like I walked up to Marco in the middle of the cafeteria and started telling gay jokes in front of everybody." Spinner defended.

"Well, Spin, what if the shoe was on the other foot? What if I was the one writing hate messages in the girls' washroom? What if I were making remarks about Asian students all over the wall? Do you think your sister would feel comfortable about me coming into her house? Huh?" Paige questioned.

"Don't…go…there." He demanded.

"Spin, that's my point, nobody should go there. I thought you would be more understanding of people that may different from you." Paige pointed out.

"Okay, Okay, I get the message loud and clear. I shouldn't have written that junk in the bathroom. I was just mad at Marco; I don't hate gay people or anything like that. I'll apologize to Marco, and to Dylan if you want me to. I'll do whatever you want to prove that I really do mean it." Spinner pledged.

Kendra could hear them making up. She was glad Spinner finally came to his senses. Even if almost cost him his girlfriend to get the point across.

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A couple of weeks had passed and student activities at Degrassi were in full swing.  Nadia was busy working with the planning committee trying to come up with a theme for the grade 7/8 dance.

"What if we had another Night in the Tropics theme?" One girl asked.

"I don't think that's a good idea." Allie replied, "Kendra told me that last year they spent most of their budget on flowers and palm leaves, which they were over-charged for."

Nadia raised her hand with an idea. "Why don't we have an '80's dance like the grade nines did last year. I heard that it turned out really well."

"That's a great idea!" another girl exclaimed.

"We can let the grade seven and eight students vote on-line for which songs they want to hear. The ones that get the most hits will get picked." Allie suggested.

"We can even have a contest for the best dressed '80's character. The winner would get some kind of prize." Nadia added.

The students continued their brainstorming session for another half-hour. They came up with some great ideas concerning decorations and a DJ. Afterwards Allie walked alongside Nadia towards the cafeteria.

"This dance is gonna be so awesome." Allie said to Nadia, "I can't decide who I want to go as."

"Well I think I'm going to go as Mary Lou Retton." Nadia replied.

"Who is that?"

"Well," Nadia explained, "she was an American gymnast back in the '80's and she won a gold medal, even though some people doubted she could do it. Her story just seemed so inspiring to me."

"Sounds cool." Allie replied

"I know, I think I can even get a red, white, and blue warm up suit and use some medals my grandfather gave to my dad." Nadia said.

As the pair entered the cafeteria they saw Kendra sitting at a table with Emma standing next to her.

"…tomorrow. I've already gotten a few people signed up, including Sean. See if you can find anymore people that are interested, the more the better." Emma said to Kendra.

"Sure, I'll ask around and see if anybody is interested." Kendra replied.

"Hi Emma." Nadia and Allie said as they approached.

"Hi guys. How are the plans coming along for the junior dance?" Emma asked.

"Great, we've come up with a great idea for a theme." Nadia answered.

"I wish I had time to hear all the details but I have to drop something off by Sna-, I mean Mr. Simpson's room before next period. I'll talk to you guys later." Emma said as she turned to leave.

"Bye Emma" the group replied.

"So what's this wonderful idea that you've come up with?" Kendra asked.

"We're going to have a retro '80's dance." Allie replied.

"We're also going to have a best costume contest." Nadia added.

"Then I have to decide who I'm going to go as." Kendra wondered.

"Nadia said she's going as Mary Lou Retton." Allie revealed to Kendra, "I haven't decided who I'm going as yet. I'll also have to see which cute guy I'm going to let escort me to the dance."

Allie noticed a sudden change in Nadia's demeanor, her beaming smile sort of disappeared. Nadia didn't say anything, but Allie knew that boys and dating were kind of an uncomfortable subject for her. Allie felt bad that Nadia hadn't had any guys that were interested in her romantically, even though Nadia would never say anything about it to them. Kendra noticed the same thing and quickly changed the subject.

"So are you two going to help out tomorrow with the campus trash pick-up?" Kendra asked.

"No thanks," Allie replied, "I love the Earth and all, but collecting trash at lunch is not my idea of a fun time."

"How about you Nadia?"

"Sure." she replied, "is that what you and Emma were talking about?"

"Yeah, she wanted me to find as many volunteers as I could." Kendra said.

"Why don't you ask J.T. and Toby?" Nadia urged her.

"It's worth a shot, but I just don't see those two as the environmentally-conscious types. I'll ask them when we have our weekly chess club meeting at lunch tomorrow." Kendra decided.

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Next chapter: Heartbreak(and I'm not just talking about Emma and Sean).


	7. Where do we go from here?

A/N: Thanks again for all the reviews. I didn't realize I had my account set up so anonymous reviews couldn't be submitted. I've changed that, so any helpful suggestions or feedback are always welcome.

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"...you can't do that!" Kendra argued.

"Yes I can." Liberty replied, "a rare but legal move of opportunity for the pawn."

Kendra, Liberty and Nadia were sitting at a table on the campus grounds deeply involved in their chess match. However, Kendra did notice that Toby was sitting on the bench next to them staring off into space, almost oblivious to his surroundings. The friendship between him and his closest pal, J.T. Yorke, had been strained over the last few weeks. J.T. was spending more and more time with his new friend Paige. It seemed like J.T. had ditched Toby just so he could be part of the in crowd.

"Toby, is everything okay?" Nadia inquired.

"J.T. was supposed to be here." Toby answered.

"Then why is he sitting over there?" Nadia pointed out.

"He probably just forgot today is the inaugural meeting of the Rooks & Knights Society. Hey J.T., over here!" Toby shouted.

The group saw J.T. sitting at the other end of the gathering area with Paige in, what seemed to be, a lively conversation. They also saw him look up but ignore his best friend.

"Yeah, he really forgot." Kendra stated.

"Hope he hasn't forgotten he's staying over at my place tonight." Toby wondered aloud.

With that, Toby got up and quickly walked off. Deep down inside, Kendra didn't feel much sympathy for Toby. Toby had treated her in much the same way that J.T. was treating him now. For some time she had wished that Toby had been around to hear about some of the things that were going on in her life. That summer she had decided to try and find out more about her biological parents. She had run into a ton of brick walls almost immediately. It was hard enough for government officials to get information from the Chinese government. For a teenage girl, without any political connections, it was next to impossible. And since the agency that had arranged her adoption shut down when the British government handed Hong Kong over to China a few years ago, she knew that she might never get the answers she wanted.

She had spent a good portion of the summer in a semi-depression, all the while telling her parents, brother and even her best friend that she was fine. Its not that she hated her home, she loved her family, even her stupid brother. It was that she still felt that part of her was missing and she didn't know how to express that to anybody.

She also remembered last year watching Toby pass out during his wrestling match.  When she learned that Toby had developed an eating disorder, she was angry at him, but she was also scared to death that he wouldn't recover. She went to his house every day after school for a month, to talk to him and reassure him that everything would be okay. She even became friends with his stepsister, Ashley.

They became so close that Ashley had even offered to give Kendra a 'goth' makeover, which Kendra politely and quickly declined.  Kendra had always thought that Ashley was a stuck up princess. But ever since Ashley had gotten high on ecstasy, something had changed within her. Ashley underwent this radical transformation, both physically and, it seemed, spiritually. Ashley had become both emotionally stronger and independent. She was able to help Craig through a rough time in his life and a romance had grown between them. That's what hurt so much about everything that had happened between her and Toby. Kendra could see how other couples supported each other, Emma and Sean, Craig and Ashley, even Spinner and Paige. Kendra wasn't sure if Toby even considered them to be a couple anymore. He didn't seem too concerned about what she might be feeling or going through. She knew at some point she would have to confront Toby, but there was a part of her that was reluctant to do so. Its not like she would be the only teenage girl in the world without a boyfriend. Inside there was some part of her that hoped Toby would suddenly start acting like the old Toby, like when they first started going out. Then, like a punch in the stomach, Kendra realized why she was feeling like such an idiot…

**She had completely fallen in love with him.**

"Hey Kendra, are you still with us?" Liberty asked.

"Huh, yeah, sure." Kendra said as her thoughts returned to match at hand. "Checkmate!" she exclaimed.

Liberty dropped her head in disappointment.

Earlier that day, Emma had told Kendra that the SITE clean-up had been rescheduled for lunch tomorrow. That was fine with Kendra. All she felt like doing was finishing her school day and going home. That night Kendra lay on her bed trying to sort out her feelings. She considered picking up the phone and calling Toby but what would she say? She could picture it now, "Hi, Toby. Even though you hardly speak to me or recognize my existence in any meaningful way, I just wanted to let you know that I'm madly, deeply in love with you." The thought sounded so desperate and ridiculous that Kendra immediately erased it from her mind. Besides J.T. would probably answer the phone and give her a hard time about "checking up on her man."

The next morning Kendra awoke. She was just as unsure about what she should do as the night before. She decided to sit Toby down and have a serious talk with him, even if it meant putting her heart on the line. She arrived at school and saw Nadia about to enter the school building. "Hey Nadia wait up." she called out.

"So are you feeling better?" Nadia asked.

"What do you mean? I'm not sick or anything."

"Yesterday you just didn't seem like yourself." Nadia continued, "I just figured maybe you were coming down with something. I started to call you last night but I figured you probably needed some rest."

"I guess I did." Kendra answered quickly.

The two girls entered the building side by side, chatting as they moved along. Kendra told Nadia she needed to talk to Toby and they agreed to meet at lunch for the SITE clean-up. Kendra waited by Toby's locker as long as she could, but he didn't show up and she had to hurry to keep from being late to class. She would find him at some point during lunch and have her little talk with him.

The morning flew by in Kendra's anticipation of what she planned to do. When the lunch bell rang, she rushed to the cafeteria and stood by the entrance waiting for Toby. The butterflies in her stomach felt like they were migrating. Finally she saw J.T. coming down the hallway with Paige, Spinner, and Hazel.

"You do know that you go inside the cafeteria." Spinner said as he taunted his sister.

"Yeah, I know." Kendra replied in her 'I don't have time for you voice'. "J.T., have you seen Toby?" She asked.

"No, I haven't seen him since we got to school this morning. Is there something wrong?" J.T. questioned.

"Everything's fine, I just need to tell him something is all." Kendra said as she displayed her best fake smile.

"Okay, I'll pass along the message if I see him." J.T. said as the group passed on their way into the cafeteria.

Kendra stood at the door for another five minutes waiting to see if Toby would appear. She had told Nadia they would meet for SITE clean-up at lunch, but she felt she really needed to talk to Toby first. Finally she saw him coming down the hallway.

"Toby, can I talk to you for a minute? I have something important to tell you." Kendra asked. She had decided she would make her confession short and sweet.

"Sure, but now's not a good time." Toby replied, "J.T. and everybody else are waiting for me."

"This'll only take a second." Kendra pleaded.

"Meet me after school and you can tell me whatever it is." Toby said as he walked past her.

Kendra just stood in place for a couple of minutes with no expression, no movement at all. Inside she was totally wrecked. Regardless of how strong her feelings for Toby might be, she knew now that he definitely didn't see her as a priority anymore. Here she was about to tell him that she loved him, and he acted like he couldn't be bothered. She wanted to cry but told herself that she could do that later. Right now she needed to get to the SITE meeting where she could do something that really made a difference.

As Kendra approached the parking lot, she could see Nadia along with a large group of kids. She decided she would keep what had happened a secret, for now, from Nadia. She first had to decide what her next step was going to be.

"I was beginning to think you had found something better to do." Nadia said jokingly.

"No way…I wouldn't miss it for the world." Kendra replied in her cheeriest voice.

Emma gave everybody copies of a map of the school outlining the area where they were going to clean up today.

"What are we going to do?" Emma asked the group.

"We're going to clean the ravine!" the group answered.

"What's going on up there?" Nadia asked Kendra.

They could see a group of hooligans harassing Emma and Sean. Kendra and Nadia watched as one boy poured out part of his soda on the asphalt. Sean stood in front of them un-phased as the trio walked off laughing. How could Sean, who was so different than Emma, care about her so much that he would stand up for her cause, even if it meant being ridiculed by his peers? That's what a real couple was supposed to be like.

Emma told the group to pair up and said, "let's get started." Kendra and Nadia went along with a few other groups around the school's northeast corridor.

"Kendra I guess one good thing about helping with the clean up is that we get an extra half hour of lunch today." Nadia stated.

"Yeah, and Friday is the grade seven and eight girls soccer tournament. We get out of school for the whole day." Kendra replied.

"Not just you, but the Junior Spirit Squad gets to go also, so get ready for some company." Nadia said excitedly.

The two girls moved down the sidewalk seeing occasional pieces of litter. They heard voices in the wooded area by the ravine. Kendra decided to go down one of the hiking trails and see if there was anything down by the ravine that needed to be picked up. She told Nadia that she would meet her at the other end of the trail. When Kendra got down to the ravine, she didn't see anybody. If anybody was there, they must've moved on by now. She did see an empty soda bottle in the distance and decided to pick it up. As soon as she got it picked up she heard some leaves rustling not too far in front of her. She was shocked to see Emma and Sean lip locked and laying on the ground. They heard Kendra as soon as she approached and were quick to jump up and try to straighten their clothes and hair.

"A lot of garbage, huh?" Kendra replied as she quickly exited.

Kendra felt more embarrassed than Emma and Sean could have been. It had little to do with her finding them in an intimate moment. She felt kind of jealous that she had never been kissed like that before. Kendra was surprised by her self-observations, she hadn't thought of seriously making out with boys before. But now the idea didn't feel so awkward and gross to her anymore.

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Next chapter: Kendra comes to a decision, and it's not pretty.


	8. Everybody Hurts

Kendra Mason sat in Ms. Kwan's English class, unable to fully concentrate on her teacher's interpretation of teenage romance and tragedy. Its not like it was difficult for her to understand, Kendra was becoming more and more aware of what Romeo and Juliet meant. The more she thought about what she almost did at lunch that day, the more relieved she was that she hadn't gone through with it. She would have made a fool out of herself for a guy, a guy who couldn't take five minutes out of his 'busy' schedule to just listen to her. Maybe it was a sign that she had been right along, that thinking with your heart lead to nothing but pain. If only she could convince her heart what her brain realized so easily.

When the final bell rang, Kendra was more than happy to exit Ms. Kwan's classroom. She planned to go home and zone out in front of the TV. She would probably call Nadia to tell her about the mistake that she almost made. Kendra opened her locker to get her stuff together for her walk home. While standing there she felt a tap on her left shoulder.

"Hi."

"Oh, hi Toby." Kendra replied.

"You said you wanted to tell me something important at lunch." He reminded her.

"Yeah…..it wasn't that important after all, I figured it out on my own." Kendra answered.

Toby hardly gave her response a second thought. He began telling her about what had transpired between him and J.T. at lunch that day. Kendra wasn't in the mood to hear about whatever J.T. had done this time.

"Look Toby, I really don't want to hear about the latest chapter in your book, Why Doesn't J.T. Yorke Like Me Today." Kendra insulted.

She didn't mean for it to come out that way, she just couldn't take how her relationship with Toby felt like a one-way street now. Lately all he wanted to do was complain about how things between he and J.T. were changing. Didn't he realize things between him and his girlfriend had changed also?

"Geez, you don't have to bite my head off." Toby said as he raised his voice, "I guess I won't bother you with my problems. I thought a girlfriend was supposed to support you when you had a bad day."

Was Toby serious or had he completely lost his mind? Supportive. Girlfriend. Did he even know what either of those words meant? Kendra, who usually kept her emotions behind a tough facade, couldn't hold back anymore.

"Well since you brought up the subject of being supportive, let's see how supportive you've been. First you claim you are so crazy in love with me that you want to schedule every second of my life, so that I can spend every waking moment with you. Then when I don't want to be controlled like some puppet, you manipulate me with your guilt trip about knowing that I don't really love you."

"But..…" Toby tried to interject, but Kendra continued unabated.

"Next you and Mr. Popular think it would be a good idea to buy condoms and see if good ol' Kendra will be stupid enough to sleep with you. When I told you where you and your sick fantasies could stick your 'protection', you started acting like I didn't exist anymore."

"That's what I don't get about you Kendra, its like I can't win." Toby finally responded, "First I try to show you how much I love you, but you act like I'm suffocating you. When I try to slow things down, you still get pissed off. Tell me, what do you want me to do?"

"For starters, you can stop going from one extreme to another. You either treat me like some object you have to obsess over or you totally ignore me. Maybe you should treat me like you would one of your friends, like an actual person."

"You have totally lost me." Toby replied.

"What I'm saying is that you don't care about what's going on in my life." Kendra asserted.

"I always ask you how you're doing. Its not my fault you don't want to talk about your feelings."

"The last time I tried to open up to you, it felt like I was talking to myself." Kendra confessed, "You may say you want to know about me, but deep down you really don't."

"You're just being overly dramatic, besides I would've noticed if something was really wrong with you." Toby told her.

Kendra could feel a storm brewing inside of her. She could count the number of times anyone had ever seen her cry on one hand. With a brother like Spinner, she didn't have any choice. She felt her face getting hot and flushed and tears were starting to form in her eyes. Then she let out everything she had been holding in for far too long.

"**You don't know a damn thing about what my life has been like lately!** How could you, all of your free time is spent with J.T. goofing off."

At this point Kendra was screaming at Toby and she couldn't control it. Months of bottling her emotions up had finally come to the surface. All of the students that were still within earshot stopped what they were doing to witness yet another Degrassi couple fight in the hallway.

Toby had never seen Kendra act like this before. "Kendra you need to calm down. Whatever it is, I'm sure things are going to get better."

"Whatever it is." Kendra said with a sarcastic ring, "That shows how much you know about what's going on outside of your own little world. You weren't there when I needed you, when I was trying to find about my biological parents this summer. You weren't there when all I got were dead-ends."

"That's not my fault. You know my parents sent me to summer camp."

"Yeah, and I also know your summer camp had computers where you could get e-mail. I must've sent you a dozen messages telling you I missed you and that I really needed to talk to you when you got back. Do you know what I got back? One message from you saying hi, telling me how beautiful the trees were up there. Even when I was sure you were back from camp, you still didn't call and let me know you were home. I called your house only to find out from Ashley that you were at J.T.'s house, or gone to the movies with J.T., or a million other things you'd rather do with him than be bothered by me." By this point Kendra was trembling.

"It sounds like you're jealous of my friendship with J.T., I've never treated your friendship with Nadia like that." Toby pointed out.

"I've never totally ignored you when you had something important to tell me, just so I could go find Nadia." She responded.

"So this is about lunch, what was so important that you have to embarrass the both of us in front of the entire school?" Toby questioned.

"I already told you, it was nothing."

"No, I want to know what it is." Toby was upset by this time also. His best friend had ditched him, and now his girlfriend was making a fool of him in public. It felt good to actually push back.

"I don't want to talk about it!" Kendra insisted.

"You couldn't wait to tell me earlier and now that you've already told everybody here about our relationship problems, go ahead. Whatever it is will just be icing on the cake." Toby goaded.

Kendra hadn't realized that during her rant, a good-sized crowd had gathered outside of the various classrooms and lockers in the hallway. All she wanted to do now was disappear.

"Well, Kendra, I'm waiting." Toby said as he stepped closer to her.

"Fine, you're right, everyone might as well hear it anyways. I was going to tell you that I still cared about you, that maybe I even loved you." Kendra had finally told him. Normally she wouldn't let her deepest feelings out, especially in front of a crowd of strangers. But she just didn't care anymore and it actually felt good to open up.

Toby was still stinging from her earlier insults. Just now she had told him the words that he had waited so long to hear, that she loved him. But he spoke his next sentence without first thinking. "Well, you have a funny way of showing it. Acting like a psycho in the middle of the hallway." Toby said, trying to hurt her feelings.

That was the last straw for Kendra. If that's how he wanted to be, then fine, two could play that game. "I've also figured out something else," she said, "nobody could love a self-centered dick like you. Well except for J.T., but it seems like he's moving on too."

Kendra regretted her words as soon as they left her mouth, but there was no taking them back now. She could see how much they hurt Toby. He quickly grabbed his book bag off of the floor and took off down the opposite corridor. Part of her wanted to chase after him and apologize, but she didn't. She just gathered her things, closed her locker, and ran towards the front of the school. She could hear the whispers behind her but she didn't even try to decipher what the other students were saying. It just didn't matter to her anymore.

The next day Kendra didn't go to school. She told her parents that she was sick. She couldn't help but wonder what everybody at school would say when they heard that little Kendra Mason flipped out on her boyfriend yesterday. She knew her brother was going to find out and have a field day with it.

She spent most of the day in her room watching TV. One of her favorite non-anime shows, Buffy-the Vampire Slayer, was on. (A/N: I don't own Buffy either). She loved that show, especially the first few seasons. One line she had heard a dozen times before, now took on a new meaning.

 _"You're not friends. You'll never be friends. You'll be in love till it kills you both....." _

                                                                                                                                     _--Spike(James Marsters)_

Kendra thought about those words and then about her and Toby. She thought to herself, "God, I hope not."

Later in the day Kendra heard a knock at her bedroom door. "Who is it?"

"It's me Kendra." Spinner replied.

She knew he was there to rub in what had happened. "Go away, I don't feel like putting up with your crap right now."

"Great, because I don't have time to give it. I have a job interview to get to, but I just wanted to let you know that you had a guest here." Spinner informed her.

Just great, she thought to herself. "I hope it's not Toby. Anybody but him." She lamented silently.

"Can I come in for a minute?"

Kendra was relieved to hear Ashley's voice at the door. "Sure." Kendra answered.

Ashley came into her room and waited for Spinner to disappear back down the stairs. "How are you doing? Ellie told me about what happened after school yesterday. She was coming out of her history class and saw everything. I should've known something major had happened when Toby refused to come out of his room last night."

"I'm feeling okay, just slightly embarrassed and stupid is all." Kendra said with a slight smile.

"It'll pass, trust me." Ashley reassured her.

Outside of Nadia, Brandy, or Allie, Ashley was the only other person Kendra felt comfortable talking about her love life to.

"I guess, it's just that I feel like I've blown things for good with Toby. Part of me is kind of glad that it's over, but the other part feels like I might be missing out on something great. Oh well, it doesn't matter anyway. Toby will probably never speak to me again, let alone actually want to go out on a date with me." Kendra confessed.

"I don't know, sometimes with love you should remember 'never say never'." Ashley replied.

The two girls talked for a little while longer before Ashley remembered that she was supposed to be meeting Craig that afternoon. Ashley gave Kendra a hug and told her she would talk to her again soon. Kendra felt better for those few minutes, but soon reality crept in as she realized tomorrow she would have to deal with everything.

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Next chapter: What has Nadia been up to? (No, I haven't forgotten about her.)

Credit for Buffy quote should be attributed to the following: http:vyra.net,

Written by: Dan Vebber; Transcribed by: AleXander Thompson. Full transcript at:

http:www.studiesinwords.de/42loverswalk.html


	9. Looking for Mr Perfect

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi or it's characters.

It was a crisp, beautiful morning as Kendra sat on a bench adjacent to Nadia in front of the Degrassi gym entrance. Kendra didn't really seem like her usual self and Nadia knew it had to do with her recent break-up with Toby Isaacs. Even if Nadia didn't know this, she could probably guess it had to do with Toby by the way Kendra kept looking at him as he walked by in the distance.

"So, are you gonna just stare at him or what?" Nadia questioned Kendra.

"What do you mean?" Kendra replied.

"What I mean is that you haven't taken your eyes off of him since he walked by." Nadia pointed out.

"No I didn't."

"Well, why don't you go talk to him?" Nadia suggested.

"There's nothing left to say." Kendra concluded, "Can we talk about something else?"

"Well let's talk about the dance next week. Who are you going to go as?" Nadia asked.

"I'm going as an '80's singer named Joan Jett." Kendra revealed.

"That's a pretty good choice."

"So how is everything else coming along with the dance?' Kendra questioned.

"Allie showed me some of the top songs from the online voting. It's weird some of the groups our parents use to listen to back then." Nadia wondered.

"Plus the fashion too. Its fun to dress up in '80's clothes for one night but I couldn't see myself going around every day looking like that." Kendra said.

Nadia and Kendra continued their conversation until the team buses arrived. Once they pulled up to the school, the grade seven and eight girls' soccer team began to file out of the girls' change room. Brandy, the team captain, came out with a large bag containing her equipment. They also spotted Allie walking towards them who was, along with Nadia, a part of the junior spirit squad. Since the spirit squad had been revived by Paige Michalchuk, Hazel Aden, and Manny Santos a couple of years ago, enough girls had signed up to allow the school to have a varsity and a junior varsity spirit squad. The junior squad normally handled cheerleading responsibilities at the girls' games while the varsity squad went to most of the boys' events.

Nadia watched as the buses were being loaded up. She wished that she could help the girls, but she knew they understood her limitations. Besides, since the buses they used for away games hadn't been modified for total wheelchair access, Nadia couldn't take her motorized wheelchair. So she was forced to use her manual wheelchair, which meant she needed help in rolling up inclined surfaces. She also had to be helped onto the bus, along with her wheelchair and uniform bag. But being part of the group was worth the occasional embarrassment she sometimes felt from needing so much special attention.

The long bus ride flew by as the girls gossiped and sang the latest songs that they had heard. Soon they had arrived at the school where the tournament was being held. The buses unloaded and the girls moved all of their things into that school's gymnasium. The gym had been converted into a sort of welcoming area for all the schools that would be participating today. Allie, and some of the other girls on the spirit squad, helped Nadia off of the bus and into her wheelchair. Allie helped wheel her to the entrance of the stadium where the games would be played. Since Degrassi's first game wasn't for another hour, the coach and chaperones allowed all of the girls some free time to socialize with students and players from the other schools. Allie left Nadia at the entrance, she was going to put both of their belongings in the gymnasium and then come back so they could find a seat inside together. Nadia sat by the entrance, watching students from other schools pass by. She was thinking about the final touches necessary for the dance. Suddenly she was snapped out of her daydream by a tall figure in front of her. He had deep penetrating eyes, rugged good looks and a smile that could melt ice.

"Would you like some help inside?" the handsome young man asked her.

"Actually I'm waiting for a friend, we're going to go inside together." Nadia replied.

Just then Nadia could see Allie coming towards them in the distance.

"Here comes my friend now." Nadia pointed.

"Hi friend." the young man said as he extended his hand to greet Allie.

"Hi." Allie responded, while twirling the ends of her long red hair around her finger.

"Well, we should go inside." he said as he wheeled Nadia up the wheelchair ramp.

Allie and the hunky guy couldn't stop staring at each other, and Nadia thought that it was so romantic. He was like a knight in shining armor.

"So," Allie started, "what are you doing at the girls soccer tournament anyway?"

"It was either this or go to my regular classes." He replied, "Our new principal is trying to build up support for girls sports. Besides I get to meet wonderful young ladies like yourself."

Nadia could see Allie start to blush as he complimented her. Allie and her new acquaintance would spend most of the next hour talking to each other, not noticing anything else going on around them. As they talked Nadia went back to her thoughts and remembered what might be her most difficult task before next week. "How am I going to convince Marco Del Rossi to help me? When I ask him what I want him to do, he'll probably just laugh in my face."

"Girls, its time to start getting ready." The junior squad captain called out.

Nadia looked over at Allie, who was still engrossed in her conversation. Nadia had to remind her that they were there to support the soccer team.

"Well, I better get up and get ready. Are you going to stay and watch the game?" Allie asked.

"Sure, I'll be here when you get back." He replied.

The spirit squad cheered as the junior girls' team won a hard fought victory. Kendra played her best game of the season, scoring three goals. After the game Kendra and Brandy, along with the rest of the team, decided to watch the next match to see whom they might face in the next round. The girls sat with some of the cheerleaders, including Nadia. Missing was Allie, who was with her new friend in another part of the stadium.

"So what's the story with lover boy over there?" Kendra asked Nadia.

"He was coming into the stadium at the same time as Allie and me. He seems really nice and funny." Nadia replied.

"Maybe, but he does seem a little too old for Allie." Brandy stated.

"Yeah, she wants an 'old guy', like Jamal, so she can compete with you." Kendra said jokingly.

"My boyfriend is only one year older than me." Brandy replied, "Besides you're one to talk about dating older guys."

"Not anymore." Kendra answered.

"Plus that guy must be in at least grade ten or eleven." Brandy observed, "He just seems sort of creepy."

"Age has nothing to do with true love?" Nadia pointed out.

"I'm sure the police would disagree." Kendra responded, "Besides I think Brandy may have a point. I hadn't noticed it before but that guy does seem kind of familiar, I just don't know from where?"

The girls continued to argue their various viewpoints on the subject instead of watching their competition like they had planned. The Degrassi athletic director had arranged for all of the girls to have lunch at a nearby restaurant. Soon the girls were all filing out of the stadium going back to the buses. Kendra was helping to wheel her friend down the access ramp when Nadia realized that Allie wasn't with them.

"Hey Allie!" Nadia called out, "Everybody's heading back to the buses."

"Okay." Allie replied, "So are you going to stick around for the afternoon games?"

"I don't think so, I have some things I have to take care of after school." He replied. "Here's my number Red, maybe we could go out sometime?"

"Sure, that would be..…fine." Allie said with a huge smile as she wrote down her number for him.

"Be seein' you soon." He said as he started to walk away.

"Hey!" Allie called out, "We talked all of this time and we don't even know each other's names."

"I heard your friend call you Allie just now, but I prefer Red a lot better." He replied.

"I like Red too." Allie agreed.

"Well Red, you can call me Dean."

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Next Chapter: ?????????


	10. Anticipation

It was Monday morning at Degrassi; the students and teachers were going through their usual routines. Nadia was rolling down one corridor towards her locker when Lee, a fellow grade eight student and dance committee member, stopped her to talk. He was about 5'8" with a semi-muscular build. He had jet-black hair and light brown eyes that displayed his Cuban and Italian ancestry.

"Hey Nadia!" he greeted.

"Hi Lee, what's the latest news?" Nadia replied.

"Well, the refreshment committee has everything ready." Lee informed, "We've also hired the DJ's that you wanted. All we need to know is whether you've talked to Marco yet?"

"You read my mind. I was on my way to ask him now. I just hope he says yes." Nadia wished.

"Don't worry, he won't be able to resist your powers of persuasion." Lee said teasingly.

"Whatever. So, you still haven't told me who you're going to dress up as." Nadia reminded him.

"It's like I told you last week, it's going to be a surprise."

"No fair, I already told you who I was going as." Nadia insisted.

"Too bad, so sad. You'll just have to be patient my dear." Lee said flirtatiously.

"I just hope I don't look like too much of a dork." Nadia replied.

"You'll…look beautiful, I'm sure of it." Lee said with a more serious tone.

For a second Nadia thought that maybe Lee could be interested in her, but then her insecurities took over. Lee could get just about any girl he wanted, why would he want to go out with her? They did have a lot in common and they were able to talk about almost anything, but Nadia thought she should be realistic. As Lee left to find some classmates, Nadia knew she had better hurry if she wanted to catch up to Marco.

Marco was standing at his locker talking to his best friend Ellie, when Nadia arrived. "Marco can I talk to you for a minute?" Nadia requested.

"Sure, …Nadia isn't it?" Marco replied.

"Yeah." Nadia couldn't believe he knew her name.

"I'd love to stay and hear your juicy conversation, but I need to get something from my locker before class starts." Ellie said as she excused herself, "Catch you two later."

"Later Ellie. Okay Nadia, I'm all ears." Marco said curiously.

"Well you know this week is the juniors' dance?"

"Uh-huh, I saw some of the posters around the school." Marco responded.

"Well since the '80's dance last year was such a success, we decided to use that theme again this year. We even got 'Mad Dog' and Billy to DJ this year too." Nadia explained.

"Cool, but what's that got to do with me?" Marco wondered.

"Well we're going to have a dance contest and, since you won it last year, we were hoping that maybe you wouldn't mind being a special guest judge this year." Nadia revealed.

"Okay." Marco answered.

Nadia was amazed he agreed so quickly, she thought she would have to do a lot more convincing than this.

"Really, I mean you don't have to stay all night, the dance contest is going to be pretty early." Nadia assured him.

"It's really fine, my social calendar is pretty light these days anyways." Marco explained.

"Okay…well I'll let the committee know." Nadia said.

"Then I guess I'll see you Friday." Marco replied as Nadia wheeled away.

Meanwhile Kendra had just arrived at school. The Degrassi girls' soccer team had placed second in the tournament over the weekend. Kendra had played her most focused game in a long time, mostly because it allowed her to forget what a mess her friendship with Toby had become. She had spotted J.T. and Toby walking towards school, but when they saw her they went off in a different direction. As she entered the building, she saw Allie and Brandy walking through the foyer area. She also saw Nadia coming down from the opposite corridor.

"Hey guys." Nadia greeted.

"Hi." The other girls replied.

"So Allie," Brandy started, "you were telling me about your new man."

"Yeah, Dean is so incredible. I called him yesterday and we must've spent a couple of hours talking on the phone. He's taking me out this weekend, this Friday after the dance actually." Allie said as she glowed.

"Why isn't he taking you to the dance?" Brandy questioned.

"Since he doesn't go to Degrassi, he doesn't want to cause any problems for me?" Allie answered.

"I don't think Raditch would give you too much of a hassle." Kendra stated.

"Maybe, but Dean said I should spend some time with my friends. He's so considerate." Allie gushed.

"Maybe." Kendra said hesitantly.

Maybe Dean was a nice guy, but Kendra had a feeling about him that she just couldn't shake.

(A/N: I've been writing under the premise that Paige only told a few people about what happened with Dean. Outside of Ashley, Spinner, Hazel, J.T., Terri, and maybe Paige's family, nobody else knows what happened.)

A few days passed and excitement continued to grow as the dance approached. The Mason house was also abuzz with excitement, mostly because of Spinner. He and most of Paige's friends had secretly been planning a surprise party for her. Spinner felt it was necessary to do something really special for Paige, especially since their relationship had been through a rocky period recently.

"Spinner, I'm leaving. Tell Mom and Dad that I'm going to Nadia's and I'll be staying for dinner." Kendra called as she headed for the door.

"Hey Kendra," Spinner replied, "Can you do me a huge favor?"

"Why would I do a huge favor for you?" Kendra asked.

"Because I'm asking you so nicely and I haven't bugged you for a couple of weeks." Spinner said with a smirk.

"Wouldn't want you to mess up such an impressive streak. What do you want me to do?" She said.

"It's simple, all you have to do is take this bag by Ashley's house on your way to Nadia's. It has some stuff in it for Paige's party, even you should be able to do it with no problem." Spinner instructed.

"Just keep in mind I'm doing this for Ashley, not for you butthead." Kendra insulted.

"Works for me either way." Spinner quickly replied.

Kendra took the bag and started down her street. She didn't mind taking the bag over to Ashley's, it gave her a chance to ask Ashley something important. Her only worry was running into Toby and how she would handle that.

After a brisk walk, she arrived at Ashley's house. She decided to go to the back door and hopefully avoid Toby. Ashley, who was in the kitchen, heard the knock and went to answer the door.

"Hi Kendra, what's up?" she asked.

"Spinner asked me to drop this off. Is this a good time?" Kendra asked back.

"If, by that, you mean is Toby here, then you don't have to worry. He's off with J.T. doing something."

"I guess it seems kind of stupid going through all of this trouble to avoid somebody." Kendra stated as she entered the kitchen.

"I can understand why you may not be ready to talk to him yet." Ashley replied.

"More like he can't stand to be within a kilometer of me." Kendra observed. (A/N: Yes, some of us Americans do know what the metric system is).

"I told Toby he was acting like an idiot all along. You were the best thing that happened to him and I told him eventually you were going to get tired of being treated like yesterday's garbage. Suffice it to say, I didn't have to tell him I told you so." Ashley explained.

"I'm glad you think so, but too bad Toby doesn't feel the same way." Kendra said.

"Well enough about Toby, how've you been?" Ashley questioned.

Kendra went on to explain how she felt confused since their breakup. Part of her was still mad at Toby, while part of her missed him. Meanwhile Ashley organized some of the party decorations and waited for the cake, she was baking, to finish in the oven.

"So how do you know when a guy really loves you, I mean really?" Kendra asked.

"Well a good indication is when a guy can give you a dozen roses and tell you 'He Loves You', not 'You Rock!'" Ashley said sarcastically.

"Huh? Is that what Craig put on those roses I delivered this morning?" Kendra asked with a sense of amazement.

"Yeah, and he has the nerve to be upset that I'm not totally wooed by that ridiculous card. When he gets over here I'm going to tell him a thing or two about how to tell someone you care." Ashley promised.

"Well that's my cue to get going, besides Nadia must be wondering where I am." Kendra said as she got up.

Ashley told her good-bye and walked her to the door. Kendra passed Craig on the sidewalk near Ashley's house. Kendra felt a little sorry for Craig, he had no idea what he was in for.


	11. Owner of a lonely heart

"Well, Nadia, do you think it's a good idea?"

"Sure, especially since it's something that means so much to you."

Kendra was in Nadia's bedroom telling her about an idea she had been thinking about for awhile. Ever since her search for her biological parents had turned up zilch, she had wanted to do something that made her feel connected to her Asian heritage. She had seen the Chinese New Year celebration in downtown Toronto and had been fascinated with the traditional Dragon dance.

"I thought it would be perfect for the Holidays-Around-the-World celebration." Kendra said, "I just have to find some willing volunteers to help pull it off."

"You could ask around the school and see. Since Raditch is giving all the students that are participating time off during school to practice, you should have no problem." Nadia assured her.

"Well my real problem is going to be juggling this with my synchro-ice skating. I think I can still pull both of them off."

"We all know you can, Superwoman." Nadia teased her. Kendra responded by flinging one of Nadia's own pillows at her and Nadia returned in kind.

"Anyway," Kendra said as they finished their little pillow fight, "we should probably work on our costumes for tomorrow night. I don't think I'll have a problem getting my hair to look like hers, I'm just not sure if this outfit is right."

Kendra pulled out a smooth, black leather jacket and a pair of tight black jeans from her bag. She also had a white blouse and a pair of spiked leather boots to compliment the outfit. As she laid the ensemble on Nadia's beautiful red and gold bedspread, she also pulled out a picture of Joan Jett she had gotten off of the internet.

"It's like a perfect match, but you're still missing something. I'll be right back." Nadia said as she wheeled out of the bedroom.

Kendra sat on the bed for what seemed like an eternity. Finally Nadia returned with something in her lap.

"What did you go to get?" Kendra questioned.

"This!" Nadia said as she extended her hand. She handed Kendra a pair of leather gloves that belonged to her mother. "These will go perfect with your outfit."

"Did your mom say it was okay for me to borrow these?" Kendra inquired.

"Yeah, I asked her and she said it was no problem. She still has about four other pairs." Nadia said assuring her.

"Great! I think I may even win first place." Kendra exclaimed, "Now let's see if your costume is going to put mine to shame."

"I don't think that I'm going to go." Nadia said suddenly as she looked away from Kendra.

"Why not!" Kendra demanded.

"Let's face it, I'm not going to do much on the dance floor and we both know none of the boys are going to even notice me. I should just quit kidding myself and accept reality." Nadia finally confessed to Kendra.

"What reality? You mean the reality where you sit at home when you should be with your friends having the time of your life; I mean you're the one that put this whole thing together." Kendra said trying to convince her friend.

"You'd have a better time without having me chained to you the whole night." Nadia replied

"I've never said that." Kendra responded quickly.

"Yeah, I know, and you are so wonderful to be such a great friend. But sometimes I feel like a fifth wheel. It's not your fault, it's just the way I feel." Nadia continued.

"Nadia, you're my best friend, period. I don't hang around you because you're the girl in a wheelchair or because I feel sorry for you or for whatever reason you may be thinking. You're one of the few people that let me be myself around them without making me feel like I'm weird. I can tell you whatever's on my mind without hesitation because I know you'll understand. I can tell you whatever stupid thing I've done and not feel embarrassed, like when I let the whole school know how I felt about Toby. I can't imagine having to go through all of that on my own. And I can't imagine being at the best school function any student has ever put together and not seeing my best friend there. Do you understand?"

Nadia understood loud and clear. Kendra could tell by the tears rolling down her friends face. She walked over to Nadia and gave her the tightest hug one friend could give to another.

"Now that I've straightened you out, let's see this red, white, and blue outfit you've been bragging about." Kendra said as she walked over to Nadia's closet.

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The night of the dance was filled with much anticipation. Kendra spent almost two hours getting ready, most of which was spent on her hair and make-up. She had bought some black eyeliner and black lipstick to finish her look.

"Whoa, it's the bride of Frankenstein herself. I think you're a little too late for the punk scene." Spinner said as Kendra came down the stairs.

"Gavin, quit teasing your sister." Mrs. Mason scolded.

"It's alright Mom. Vanilla Ice, I mean Gavin, I mean, what are you calling yourself these days, was just trying to compliment me but I guess simple adjectives are a little too advanced for him right now." Kendra said returning the insult.

"I don't have time for this, I'm gonna be late for Paige's party. I'll be home late Mom." Spinner said as he walked out of the front door.

"I'd better get going too." Kendra announced, "Nadia and me are going to walk to the dance together."

"Just be careful honey, I hope you have a good time." Mrs. Mason replied.

Degrassi seemed almost magical on this night. It was the first juniors' dance that the school had held at night and the students could feel the excitement. They were dressed up as all kinds of celebrities and entertainers from the 1980's. Kendra as Joan Jett and Nadia as Mary Lou Retton were met by Brandy and Jamal.

"So who are you guys supposed to be?" Nadia asked.

"We're Bobby Brown and Whitney Houston, from the '80's." Jamal replied.

And the couple looked the part. Jamal had on a suave, light grey suit. Brandy was wearing a beautiful black dress with pink trimming.

"So has anybody seen Allie?" Brandy asked.

"No, but I think that might be her over there." Kendra said as she pointed.

Allie was wearing a hot pink dress and pumps that matched.

"So Allie, who are you supposed to be?" Kendra asked.

"Sheena Easton." Allie replied, "Can't you tell?"

"I'm not even sure who that is?" Kendra confessed.

"She was a popular singer and actress from back then."

The group chatted and continued to try and guess who everybody was supposed to be for a few more minutes. Then they turned and entered the gymnasium together. As they walked inside, Nadia could see Lee standing with a large group of boys. Lee was wearing a jacket and headband, trying to look like the Karate Kid. She could see one of the boys in the group pointing at her while slapping Lee on the back. In her mind, it confirmed the conclusion she had reached about any possibility of a romance between her and Lee.

The gym was covered in streamers and flashes from the lighting system. Jamal and Brandy immediately found their way to the dance floor. Kendra said she would be right back as she went to talk to some other students for a few minutes. Nadia was left at their table alone and was really beginning to regret coming here. Then she heard a voice from behind her.

"Hey Nadia."

Nadia wheeled around to see none other than Marco standing there. He was wearing a black Kangol hat and a really cool black and tan shirt.

"Hi Marco." Nadia replied.

"So, are you here all by yourself." Marco asked.

"I guess you might as well say that. I came with some friends but they seem to be otherwise occupied." Nadia replied.

"I know that feeling all too well." Marco sympathized.

Nadia and Marco sat there for a few minutes looking at all of the different students and rated their different costumes. Pretty soon DJ's Mad Dog and Billy made the announcement for all participants in the dance contest to head towards the stage.

"Well I guess that means I better head towards the DJ booth and get ready to give my impartial opinion." Marco said as he got up.

"Okay, thanks again for agreeing to be one of the judges." Nadia replied.

"No problem." He said as he turned and smiled.

Ever since he had come out of the closet Marco had felt distant from his friends, even the ones that accepted who he was. Jimmy had invited him to Paige's surprise party that night but, even though Spinner had apologized to him, Marco just didn't feel like he fit in anymore.

As Marco left, Lee came over to Nadia's table.

"So, where did your date go?" Lee asked.

Nadia knew that Lee liked to joke with her, but this was just plain mean. Lee knew Marco was gay and he should know how much a statement like that would hurt her.

"I thought you were different, but sometimes you can be an insensitive ass." Nadia said angrily. She then left the table and went to where she could see the dance competition.

Marco was standing next to Mad Dog as the first contestants came to the spotlight area. They were two boys that did a break dance and pop-lock routine that got the crowd going. Marco gave them an 8 out of 10 and between the three judges they received a total average score of 8.3. The three judges continued as contestant after contestant stepped up and gave it their all. The more noticeable ones were one boy and two girls that did their best impression of a Robert Palmer video. But the contest belonged to one student who, dressed up in a white suit and hat, proceeded to wow the audience with his Michael Jackson routine. "Jimmy's got nothing on this guy, he could even give me a run for my money." Marco thought to himself.

Nadia felt a tap on her shoulder as Kendra came up behind her.

"Hey, I went back to the table to tell you the dance contest was about to start, but you were gone and Lee said you had got upset and left. What happened?" Kendra questioned.

"Sorry Kendra, I just didn't like the atmosphere over there. Anyway, they're about to announce the winner." Nadia answered.

Marco opened the envelope and announced the winner. Marco then handed over a trophy that said 'World's greatest Dancer' along with a cash prize. Afterwards the DJ's played some slower songs that allowed many of the students to pair off. Marco then went over to get some refreshments.

Meanwhile someone asked Kendra to dance but at first she declined. Nadia told her it was okay, that she wanted to get some fresh air for a bit. She went outside and gazed at the moon and stars on such a beautiful and clear night. As she sat outside, she saw a dark blue Mustang pull up blasting 'Magic Stick' by Lil' Kim. She then saw Allie come out of the gym talking on her cell phone. Dean got out from the driver's side and called out to Allie "Let's get out of here." She smiled and jumped into the car as it peeled off. Nadia began to feel worse than she had before she came to the dance. Everybody seemed to be finding love around every corner and it made her feel like such an outsider. Suddenly she could hear footsteps behind her.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Marco was sitting at a table by himself watching all of the young couples dancing the night away. He decided now would be as good a time as any to make his exit. As he was almost at the gym doors Marco was stopped, dead in his tracks, by the last person he expected to see here.

"Dylan, what are you doing here?" Marco asked with a puzzled look.

"What are we doing anywhere?" Dylan replied sarcastically.

"Shouldn't you be at your sister's surprise party?"

"I wished Paige a Happy Birthday earlier today, but that party just isn't my scene. I was looking for you, so I called Ellie and she said you might still be here. I was afraid you might've left already." Dylan replied.

"I was just about to go, but why were you looking for me?" Marco questioned.

"Paige told me about what really happened before the hockey game and about everything with Spinner. I figured you might want to just go somewhere and talk." Dylan asked.

"Everything is fine between me and Spinner." Marco said.

"It'd better be, I told Spinner I would kick his butt if he pulled a stunt like that again." Dylan said with a smirk. "Besides I'm sure you have a lot of other things on your mind, I know I did when I first realized…"

"That you were gay," Marco finished, "It's okay, I can say it now. And yeah I would like to tell somebody about what's been on my mind."

"Great, I know this wonderful coffee house down on Bay St." Dylan said as they walked out of the gym.

------------------------------------------------

Nadia wheeled around to see Lee standing behind her.

"What, come to insult me some more?" Nadia said in a scolding tone.

"No, I came to apologize. I don't know why I said that to you, it's just that….." Lee responded.

"Just that what?" Nadia questioned.

Suddenly, without any warning, Lee bent down and kissed Nadia on the cheek. She felt a rush go through her like never before.

"I'm sorry, I should have asked before I did that." Lee apologized.

" It was actually kind of nice." Nadia said as she held his hand.

Lee and Nadia stared into each other's eyes for a moment. Then Lee picked Nadia up into his arms and embraced her as they kissed for what seemed like an eternity…

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(Yeah I know it's a sappy chapter, but things are about to get way more intense).


	12. Perfect World

Nadia was sitting in her first period biology class listening to Ms. Hatzilakos start to explain the differences between plant and animal cell structures, when suddenly, a commotion could be heard from the hallway outside.

"…I don't want to be friends with a Stuck-up Prude Princess!"

"Good, because I don't want to be friends with the School Slut!"

"Fine, Emma, you and your high standards can be best friends from now on."

"Whatever, Manny."

Ms. Hatzilakos stopped her lecture when it became apparent that her class was more interested in what was going on outside of the classroom than inside.

"Class, settle down." She said as she walked over to the door. When she looked outside, she saw an empty hallway and closed the door back behind her.

"Now as I was saying…" Ms Hatzilakos said, continuing her lesson.

Nadia was partially paying attention. Her thoughts kept going back to the school dance from a few weeks before when Lee and her had kissed. Ever since that night, they had become one of Degrassi's newest couples. They did normal things that couples their age did, like holding hands during lunch and occasionally smooching when they were alone. Brandy and Jamal had nicknamed them the "young lovebirds". Even Kendra had walked away that night with the first place trophy for best costume. But then Nadia looked over to her other friend Allie, sitting two rows over.

Ever since the night of the dance, Allie had been acting very differently. She had stayed home sick for the entire week after the dance. When she finally came back to school, Allie's friends noticed a dramatic change in her personality. When they would try to talk to her, she wasn't her usually cheerful self. She would answer them with either quick one or two word responses or she would just totally ignore them. She didn't seem as concerned about her appearance as she normally did and at lunch she would go off and sit by herself. Maybe Allie was still sick and just didn't feel one hundred percent yet, Nadia thought to herself. Just then the bell rang.

"Okay class I want you to review Chapters 10 and 11. Be prepared for a quiz on Thursday." Ms. Hatzilakos said as they exited.

"Hey Allie, wait up." Nadia called out.

"What." Allie replied.

"I just wanted to see if you wanted to come over to my house tonight and study with Kendra, Brandy, and me." Nadia asked.

"No thanks." Allie said as she turned and quickly walked away.

---------------------------------------------------

Later at lunch Nadia brought up what had happened in class.

"So I invited her to come over and study with us. She said no and just walked away. Do you think we did or said something to make her upset?" Nadia said questioningly.

"Not that I can remember. Besides Allie is the one who likes to tease the rest of us." Kendra pointed out. "Now it's like she's some sort of zombie."

"Yeah, the other day I tried to start a conversation with her and it was like I wasn't even there." Brandy recounted, "When I tapped her on her shoulder, she just freaked out and jumped about ten feet high. I had been talking to her for a few minutes and she accused me of intentionally sneaking up on her."

"I wonder if her and Dean had some kind of fight and she's just feeling heartbroken?" Nadia wondered.

"Maybe she's having family problems. Ever since her parents got a divorce a couple of years ago she has said she was fine with it. Maybe things aren't as great as she's been pretending." Brandy revealed.

"I wasn't going to say anything until I was sure, but the other day I tried talking to her and I swore I smelled alcohol on her." Kendra confessed, "I hope she hasn't started doing drugs or anything like that."

"Listen to us." Brandy interjected, "We've come up with all of these interesting personal problems for her without knowing what's really going on. Maybe we should all go as a group and try to get her to open up."

The three girls walked over to the lone bench where Allie was sitting. She had her knees pulled into her body and her arms were wrapped around them.

"Hey Allie can we talk for a minute?" Brandy asked.

"Go ahead and talk." Allie replied.

"We were just wondering if everything is okay with you?" Kendra questioned.

"Everything's fine."

"It just doesn't seem like you're fine is all." Nadia cut in, "You've just been sort of moody lately."

"What, is there a law against being moody. Am I supposed to be some sort of cheerful idiot all of the time?" Allie snapped back.

"Whoa, you don't have to get all worked up." Brandy interrupted.

"And you don't have to tell me how I'm supposed to act." Allie answered in a hostile tone.

"Nobody's trying to tell you how to do anything." Kendra said trying to reason with her, "We just thought maybe you were having family problems and wanted to talk to somebody about it."

"My problems are my business, not yours. If I wanted to talk to somebody about them, which I don't, what makes you think I would want to talk about it with any of you. Besides all of my problems will be over soon" Allie said as she screamed at the trio.

Allie then got up and walked off, leaving the three girls stunned.

"Do you think she meant what she said?" Nadia said with a worried tone, "Do you think she might do something to herself?"

"I don't know. But I'm going to go find some answers." Kendra replied.

Kendra had recently remembered where she had seen Dean before. It was last year at the boy's basketball tournament. Dean looked a little different, but she was sure he was the guy that J.T. ran out onto the court and started hitting. Dean and J.T. had both been ejected from the game and that was the last time she had seen Dean, until the girls' soccer tournament that is. She walked over to a table where J.T. and Toby were sitting and playing a card game.

"Can I talk to you for a minute?" Kendra asked.

"About what?" Toby replied in an impatient tone.

"Actually, I was talking to J.T., not you."

Toby got up and walked off without a word. J.T. answered, "Well, what's up?"

"Do you remember that guy you got into a fight with last year?"

"What guy?"

"That guy from Bardell, his name is Dean." Kendra answered.

"What? Why are you bringing that up, especially now?" J.T. wanted to know.

"I just wanted to know what kind of guy he is and why you wanted to fight him?" Kendra explained.

"Trust me, you want to steer clear of him. That's all I can say, but promise me you won't go near him. You have to promise." J.T. asked Kendra.

"Okay I won't, thanks for the advice." Kendra responded.

Meanwhile in the main office Nadia went to see Ms. Sauve, to ask her about the signs when someone may be suicidal.

"So what makes you think your friend may be contemplating suicide." Ms. Sauve asked.

"Well, 'my friend', has started acting completely different and today she made a statement that's got me worried." Nadia replied.

"What did she say?"

"She said all of her problems would be over soon."

"I could see how that might be interpreted as a suicide threat. Do you think she might be serious?" Ms. Sauve said as she probed.

"I don't know. I've tried to talk to her a bunch of times over the last couple of weeks, but all she does is pretend everything is okay or tell me to mind my own business. And it's not just with me, but with all of her friends." Nadia confessed.

"Maybe you should try to get her to come and talk to me. I know you said you didn't want to reveal her identity because you weren't positive yet, but a person that is truly suicidal can be a danger to themselves and not realize it." Ms. Sauve pointed out.

"I'm going to try one more time, but if she won't come voluntarily, then I'll tell you." Nadia promised.

As Nadia left Ms. Sauve's office they walked by Toby, who was waiting to talk to Mr. Raditch about his Holiday-Around-The-World idea using a Hanukah theme. He heard Ms. Sauve reiterate to Nadia that depression and suicide are complex issues and there are no easy solutions for them. If her friend continued to exhibit strange behavior, she wanted Nadia to come back and tell her.

As Nadia wheeled out to the hallway, Toby thought to himself, "Kendra? No way." 

The rest of the day was pretty uneventful. Kendra worked with a group of students who had volunteered to help her with her Dragon dance. They spent a lot of time learning to move together in unison. Kendra was confident that her contribution to the Holiday pageant would come off without a hitch.

Also that day Nadia noticed that Allie didn't show up for any of her afternoon classes. She was becoming more worried that her worst fears were going to come true about her friend. As if things weren't bad enough, Nadia was also starting to feel bad health wise and that just added to her anxiety. She wanted to tell Lee about her fears of being in the hospital but was afraid it would only scare him away. When she got home she tried calling Allie but got no answer. She knew Allie's mom worked until late in the evening and hoped that nobody answering meant that nobody was home. She voiced her concerns when Kendra and Brandy came over for their study session.

"What did you find out Kendra?" Brandy asked.

"Not much, J.T. didn't really give me any info on Dean. He just warned me to stay away from him and that Dean was bad news."

"He didn't tell you why he fought Dean last year?" Nadia questioned.

"Nothing at all." Kendra replied, "What did Ms Sauve say when you asked her about Allie's statement?"

"She just told me suicide is a complicated problem and for me to come back to her if I needed any help." Nadia answered.

"I asked Jamal if he knew anything about Dean and he asked around with some of the guys at school." Brandy added, "All he came up with is that Dean has a reputation as a major player from Bardell and always has a new girl. Maybe he was cheating on Allie and she found out."

"Yeah, but that still doesn't explain why she's pushing us away." Nadia replied, "She..…" Nadia was cut off in mid-sentence. She felt a sharp pain go through her that made it hard to breathe for a moment. Brandy was scared when she saw her friend convulse in pain, but Kendra knew to get her inhaler. After a few puffs and a minute of relaxing Nadia started to feel better again.

"Are they getting more frequent?" Kendra asked when she felt Nadia was able to answer.

"Not really." Nadia said, hiding the truth from her best friend. "We should talk to Allie tomorrow and make her tell us what's going on."

"You saw how great that worked today." Kendra reminded her.

"Yeah, but tomorrow she either tells us or she tells Ms. Sauve." Brandy concluded.


	13. Sooner or later, it all catches up to yo...

A/N: Thank You to everybody for all of the positive reviews and support.

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It was a cool and partially cloudy morning. Kendra, Brandy, and Nadia had decided to meet outside of Degrassi to discuss how they were going to confront Allie.

"We'll just meet at lunch." Kendra planned, "Allie's normally sitting over on the benches by herself."

"We can go over to her, one at a time, so it won't seem like we're ganging up on her." Brandy added.

"I hope it turns out that we're just over-reacting and nothing is seriously wrong with her." Nadia said.

But, so much for their plans. They later learned that Allie didn't come to school that day, which had Nadia really worried. As Nadia sat in her morning classes, the stress she felt over her friend's recent statement were only compounded by the news she was hiding from Kendra and the others. She had considered telling them the night before, when she had another one of her breathing spells. The doctors had told her that surgery would be necessary to correct some problems she had with her lungs. They, and her parents, had thought things would be fine until the New Year, but Nadia was beginning to feel a little worse as each day passed. There were times when inhaling and exhaling air through her body was excruciating. But Nadia didn't want to ruin Kendra's holiday plans and the Dragon dance that she had been working so hard on.

If she went into the hospital again, it would be like the last time she was there. Kendra would spend most of her free time in Nadia's hospital room. Even though Nadia would tell her to go home and get some rest or to just go find something to do and have fun for the both of them, Kendra would just stay there as if she didn't hear a word Nadia said. Nadia wouldn't be able to forgive herself if Kendra quit her Holiday project because of her. This was Kendra's way of forming a connection to the parents that she may never find, let alone meet. Nadia was also worried about what Lee's reaction would be. They had just started going out and they hadn't even been out on a real date yet. Having a girlfriend with a physical handicap was one thing, having one you could only spend time with during visiting hours was something else entirely. Nadia knew she could will herself to be okay until after the holidays.

The three girls met at lunch to rethink their strategy.

"So did you call her house?" Brandy asked.

"Yeah," Nadia answered, "Her cousin Brad was home from class and answered."

Brad was Allie's older cousin who went to community college. He had moved in with Allie's family before her parents had gotten a divorce. He had grown up in a really dysfunctional home but you would never guess it by the way he acted. He was sort of like an older brother to Allie. He also had a vibrant personality just like Allie, or like she used to have.

"What did he say?" Kendra questioned.

"Well, he told me Allie had gotten up once and went to the kitchen, and then had gone back to bed. He's really worried about Allie too and about the way she's been acting."

"Did you tell him what Allie said yesterday?" Brandy asked.

"No, I didn't want to say something and end up being wrong. I told him we were going to come over after-school to see Allie and he said that would probably be a good idea." Nadia answered.

As the girls continued their conversation about their friend, they stopped as they heard faint yelling from the distance.

"…**I swear I'll kill him!**"

"Just calm down, you're going about this all wrong."

The girls could see Spinner Mason heading straight towards them, with Paige trailing behind.

"All right Kendra, you have two seconds to start explaining." Spinner demanded.

"Huh?" Kendra blurted out.

"I know you've been asking about that guy Dean. Have you been secretly seeing him? Is that where you've been going after school?" Spinner asked.

"Spin, I don't think twenty questions is what your sister needs right now." Paige tried to explain.

"I think you should listen to your girlfriend. If you want any answers from me, then you can ask me the right way." Kendra asserted as she began to walk off.

"You're not going anywhere." Spinner said as he grabbed his sister by the arm.

In his concern about the well-being of his sister, Spinner had a temporary memory lapse. He forgot about the fact that Kendra had taken self-defense and various forms of martial arts for most of her childhood. She wanted to learn it as a way to defend herself, against anyone who thought they could take advantage of her because of her small size. Being a top student meant that even though she didn't have super strength, Kendra knew where the pressure points on the human body where and she knew how to manipulate them. Usually Spinner kept this in mind and it was the reason he avoided physical confrontations with her. Its not that he was scared of her, he just knew what he would be up against. But his forgetfulness today lead to him falling to the ground while his sister clutched his arm around his back. When Paige, Nadia, and Brandy saw Kendra grab Spinner, they decided to walk over to an empty table while the siblings worked their differences out.

Kendra didn't like using her martial arts skill in front of everyone, but she was tired of Spinner constantly embarrassing her at school. He only paid attention to her when he could bully any boy who showed the slightest interest in her. She didn't mind him being protective of her because she cared about him too. But she didn't go and make a fool out of him in public every chance she got. Why couldn't he show her the same respect?

"Ow, let go of my arm." Spinner demanded.

"Fine," Kendra said as she released him, "Just remember that the next time you decide to manhandle someone, especially me."

"But you still didn't answer my question. Why have you been secretly seeing Dean?" Spinner asked.

"What makes you think I've been seeing Dean, of all people?" Kendra wanted know.

"Well you broke up with Toby for no reason. Then you have this mystery project you spend all of your time on. And you get home, sometimes late in the evening, from who knows where." Spinner said accusingly.

"From who knows where! I haven't made any big secret of where I've been and what I've been doing. All you had to do was ask Mom or Dad or even me. But unless it centers around 'The Great Spinner Mason', you don't really care what it is. Well, the whole world doesn't revolve around you and your life. Didn't you consider I might have things going on in my life too? I've listened to you when Paige and you have had a fight over something stupid, or when you were just acting stupid. But you! You haven't even wondered if everything has been all right with me. If you did, you would know that what happened between Toby and me was more complicated than me wanting to date someone else. I'm more than that little nuisance that lives two doors down from your room and I'm more than the background noise of your life. Maybe you should get to know me a little better than that." Kendra told Spinner.

"And what is that supposed to mean?" Spinner asked.

"For once, maybe you should stop and think about something I've said to you."

While Spinner and Kendra were having their argument, Paige asked Nadia and Brandy what was going on with Dean. They told her about how Dean and Allie had gotten involved and how he took her out the night of the dance. They also told her how she had been acting strange ever since that night.

"So where's Allie at now?" Paige asked.

"She didn't come to school today." Nadia answered.

"Is she okay?" Paige questioned.

 "We're not sure. We were going to go see her after-school." Nadia replied.

"Well, I'd love to continue the conversation, hon, but it looks like someone needs to have their pride scraped off of the ground." Paige said, pointing towards Spinner.

Paige walked over to Spinner to console him after his sister had made him 'Say Uncle'.

Brandy, Kendra and Nadia met after school to go over to Allie's house. But first they had to make a stop, at Joey Jeremiah's house.  As their team captain, Brandy needed to go tell Mr. Jeremiah how well the flower sale for the girls' soccer team had gone. Mr. Jeremiah had promised to match the funds of however much they raised. When they got there they rang his doorbell, but saw an unexpected face coming from Mr. Jeremiah's garage.

"Hi Manny." Nadia called out, "What're you doing here?"

"Um..…nothing. I mean, I was just helping Craig with his homework." Manny answered as she continued toward the sidewalk and started down the street.

"Since when does a grade 9 student help a grade 10 student in classes that she hasn't even taken yet?" Brandy pointed out.

"She's probably just throwing herself at Craig, like she does with every guy." Kendra answered, "Craig probably told her to get lost since he's with Ashley."

Just then the door opened.

"Hi girls." Joey greeted, "I'm sorry but I can't buy anymore cookies, I'm running out of room as it is."

The three girls looked at each other with puzzled looks on their faces.

"Come on, I'm just kidding. You girls have to learn to lighten up or you're not even going to make it to be my age." Joey said as he continued to tease them.

Brandy and Kendra got the joke and laughed along with Joey, but Nadia didn't see the humor in his statement like she normally would have. All she could think about was what Allie had said the day before and her own personal problems. It was enough to make Nadia burst into tears.

"Whoa, I'm sorry." Joey apologized, "I was just trying to be friendly, I didn't mean to hurt her feelings."

"Its not your fault Mr. Jeremiah," Brandy explained, "We've just had a lot going on lately and it's been kinda hard to deal."

"Sure. So you're probably here about my donation to the girls soccer team." Joey said to Brandy.

"You guessed right. Here's the official invoice for the flower sale." Brandy said as she handed a large envelope to Joey.

"Let me go get my checkbook." Joey said as he went back inside for a moment.

While Brandy was waiting for Joey to come back to the door, Kendra wheeled Nadia a little way from the house. She put her arm around Nadia, telling her everything was going to be okay. She said they were going over to Allie's in a few minutes and everything would be fine. But deep down Nadia was becoming less and less sure that things would be.


	14. You are not alone

A/N: I'm just putting a warning that this chapter is kind of intense.

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Kendra, Nadia, and Brandy stood on Allie's front porch. They were trying to gather their collective strength to confront Allie and to be prepared for what the consequences of their actions might be.

"Are you ready?" Brandy asked the other two.

"Yeah." They responded.

Brandy rang Allie's doorbell and waited for someone to answer. Someone did.

"Hey guys. I was wondering when you were going to get here." Brad said, greeting the girls. "You can go back to Allie's room and knock on her door."

Brad showed the three girls in through the front door. As Nadia passed by he decided to joke with her, as he usually did. He remembered the first time she came over to the house to visit Allie and how shy that she seemed. From that day on, he always made a special point to joke around with her whenever she came over.

"So Nadia, have you given any thought to my idea?" Brad asked teasingly.

"What idea?" Nadia responded suspiciously.

"What idea! The one where you let me tune up your wheelchair and we see how many horses we can crank out of that baby." Brad revealed.

"You're Crazy!" Nadia answered with a giggle.

"So I've been told." Brad replied.

After Brad and Nadia finished their conversation, the three girls went to the last door at the back of the house. Allie's Christina Aguilera poster still hung on the door and Kendra proceeded to give the door a couple of brief knocks.

"Allie, it's Kendra. Brandy and Nadia are here too, can we come in?" Kendra called out.

At first there was no answer but then they heard sounds from the other side of the door. The door opened to reveal a room mostly in darkness, with the exception of the flicker from a medium sized TV. Kendra entered first and had trouble adjusting her eyes to the darkness. It greatly contrasted from the afternoon sunlight she had just left a few minutes ago.

"You can turn the light on if you want to." A voice from inside the room said.

Kendra knew where the light switch on the wall was and proceeded to flip it. The trio saw Allie sitting on her bed, her hair pulled back into a single ponytail and looking like she hadn't slept in days. Brandy sat in a chair at Allie's study desk, Kendra grabbed another chair and sat down next to Nadia. They sat there for a couple of minutes in an awkward silence. Then finally, Nadia spoke.

"Allie, you weren't at school today. We've been worried about you." Nadia confessed.

"There's nothing to worry about." Allie replied.

"Yes there is." Kendra disagreed, "You've been acting really weird for the last few weeks."

"Come on, people do grow up and change." Allie challenged.

"Yeah they do, but not overnight." Kendra continued, "You've just seemed really upset and we wondered if we did anything to make you mad at us? If we did, just let us know what it was."

"It's got nothing to do with anything any of you said or did." Allie assured them.

"Then, does it have to do with Dean?" Brandy asked.

"Don't ever say that name to me again!" Allie snapped.

"Then it is about him." Brandy confirmed, "It's all right, you're not the first girl to date a guy that cheated on you."

"Cheated on me?" Allie said with a puzzled look.

"I had Jamal to ask around with some of the guys and they said Dean had a reputation as a ladies man." Brandy revealed.

"Really?" Allie replied.

"It's okay to be hurt about losing a relationship, but you shouldn't take it out on your friends." Nadia contributed.

"So let me get this straight, you're all here to heal my broken heart." Allie questioned.

"That and we wanted to tell you that hurting yourself isn't the answer to your problems." Kendra added.

"Does anybody else have some advice they'd like to give to broken-hearted Allie?" Allie asked.

The girls sat silently, all eyes on Allie. Allie sat on her bed, staring at the floor for a moment. Then she started to speak again.

"Do you want to know the real reason I've been acting so different lately? Dean didn't cheat on me and he did more than just break my heart, a hell of a lot more. 'The Ladies Man', as you call him, made me feel worse than dirt. He raped me."

Allie wasn't yelling or screaming, she said that one word in a calmness that revealed the true ugliness of it's meaning to her and her friends. Hearing it out loud forced Allie to finally confront what she had been trying to tell herself hadn't really happened, what had kept her awake night after night for the past few weeks. Saying it out loud made her feel like a weight had been lifted off of her, but at the same time, she felt a sense of shame that she hadn't felt since that night it had happened. The night when Dean said all of those awful things to her, after he did what he did.

"Oh my God, Allie."

"We didn't know."

"We're so sorry, we should've known it was about more than just a guy dumping you."

The girls' apologies all flooded over Allie at once, and it felt good to hear their comforting words. Brandy came over and hugged Allie, who was crying and shivering by this point. Kendra handed Brandy one of Allie's quilts from the chair she was sitting in and Brandy wrapped it around her.

"Why didn't you tell us before?" Brandy asked.

"I guess I was embarrassed. That, and I wasn't sure if anybody would believe me." Allie confessed.

"What do you mean?" Nadia replied, "Of course we believe you!"

"Yeah, we know you wouldn't make up something horrible like this." Kendra added.

"I guess a part of me was actually believing what Dean said." Allie continued, "After he forced himself on me, I kept crying and asking him why didn't he stop when I said no. He told me that he knew I really wanted it and that no one would believe that I hadn't done it willingly. He said that no one would believe a thirteen year old girl dressed the way I was wasn't a total slut."

"You can't believe the crap that psychopathic asshole said." Brandy asserted, "You were dressed up for a costume dance and even if you weren't, that's never an excuse for someone to do what he did."

"Have you told your Mom yet?" Nadia asked.

"Not yet, I wasn't sure if I could and I was afraid of what she would think of me." Allie said, wiping her eyes with the Kleenex that Kendra had found for her.

"You should tell her and you should go talk to Ms. Sauve at school. She'll be able to help you with everything that you're going through." Nadia added.

The girls sat in silence for a moment, taking in everything that had just been talked about. Nadia was still worried about Allie doing something to hurt herself and felt it was necessary to find out.

"I have another question, if it's okay for me to ask."

"It's okay, go ahead." Allie replied.

"Are you still thinking about suicide?" Nadia asked.

"Suicide?" Allie questioned.

"The other day, when you got upset and left, you said all of your problems would be over soon. We were afraid that you might do something to yourself." Nadia reminded her.

At this point Allie started crying again.

"I'm sorry Allie, I knew I should've kept my big mouth shut." Nadia apologized.

"No it's all right, really. There's something else I have to tell you that I'm not too proud of. It was something that I had been planning since a few days after what happened to me." Allie replied.

Allie then got up from her bed, with the quilt still covering her. She walked over to her closet and reached inside. From inside of her closet she pulled out a shoebox. She then handed it to Kendra and sat back on the bed.

"Go ahead and open it." Allie instructed Kendra.

The other two girls watched as Kendra opened the box and saw her expression change to a look of pure horror.

"Where did you get this from?" Kendra yelled.

Kendra angled the box down so Nadia and Brandy could see the contents of the box and their reaction was similar.

Brandy asked, "Where did you get that gun from?"

"It belonged to my Dad, he left it when he got a divorce from my Mom. I don't have any bullets for it, hell, I don't even know how to fire a gun." Allie confessed.

"Then what were you doing with it?" Nadia asked with fear in her voice.

"I don't know. I had seriously considered taking it and going to shoot Dean. If he could do this to me and get away with it, who's to say he wouldn't do it again and again. I had even tried drinking some of my Mom's alcohol, hoping I could make myself drunk enough to go through with it, but all I did was make myself sick. But I also realized that I'm not like him and I'm not a murderer. Plus I already have enough on my mind, with everything that's happened, without adding to it."

Allie was sobbing heavily again and Brandy let her rest her head against her shoulder. Kendra took the shoebox and asked Brad to take it, with no questions. She told him there was an unloaded gun in there and asked him to get rid of it. Brad, who was sitting on the couch with his girlfriend, said sure. He told her he would take it and put it somewhere, somewhere where nobody could hurt themselves with it.

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Next chapter: Allie considers bringing charges against Dean, and finds an unexpected ally.


	15. Friends

As Nadia sat outside of Ms. Sauve's office, she thought back to the events of the previous night. It seemed unreal how much her life, how all of their lives, had changed in one night. Allie had revealed what had been bothering her for the past few weeks. Allie had been raped by Dean, a guy whom she had cared about and who she thought cared about her. Nadia, Kendra, and Brandy stayed that evening as Allie told her Mom and Brad what had happened to her. They were all there to console Allie, and reassure her that what had happened to her was not her fault and that she had no reason to be ashamed. Nadia also realized it was the first time that she had seen, the usually humorous Brad, actually shed tears. Allie's Mom suggested that she and Allie come speak to the school guidance counselor. Allie said she would, but only if Brandy, Kendra and Nadia would accompany her. So here they were. Ms. Sauve had said she really wanted to talk to Allie and her Mom alone first, but that the rest of the group could wait outside and she would let them inside in a few moments.

"So what do you think they're talking about?" Brandy wondered aloud.

"I don't know?" Kendra replied, "Maybe she's telling them what they need to do to put that creep behind bars."

"I still can't believe what happened to poor Allie, she's so nice and sweet. Something like this shouldn't happen to anybody, but Allie always went out of her way to be extra nice and considerate to everybody. It just isn't fair." Nadia lamented.

The three girls just looked at each other, all in silent agreement. After a few more minutes passed, Ms. Sauve finally opened the door and told them to come in. Brandy and Kendra both took seats sitting to each side of Allie and her Mom. Nadia stopped close by the door.

Ms. Sauve started speaking once everyone was settled. "Well girls, I've been speaking to Allie and Mrs. Knight and they've decided to go to the police and press charges against Dean. (A/N: Allie's Mom still goes by her married name, even though she is divorced) What this means is that they will be in for a long and difficult process. But I think that they've made a brave decision to come forward and pursue this action. I've also told them that taking a rape case to trial won't be pretty. The defense lawyers are going to try and bring up anything from her past that they feel they can use to get their client off of the hook. That's why I've called you in here. Allie is going to need as much support as she can get and I didn't want anybody to be caught off guard when rumors and accusations start being aimed towards her."

"But I don't understand? Allie didn't do anything wrong." Kendra stated.

"We all know that," Ms. Sauve replied, "but in a criminal trial both sides try to convince a jury that their truth is the correct one. I've seen first hand the maneuvers that lawyers use to try and persuade jurors."

Just then they heard a knock at the door. Ms. Sauve explained to the girls that she had asked Allie and her Mom if it was all right to bring in another student, who had been attacked last school year. Allie and her Mom had said that would be fine.

"It's okay, the door's open. You can come in."

The four girls were shocked to see Paige Michalchuk standing in front of them.

"Paige. I had no idea something had happened to you last year." Allie commented.

Paige took a seat on a small table that was adjacent to Ms. Sauve's desk. She crossed one leg over the other and faced everybody in the room.

"It's not the kind of thing that I really wanted the whole world to know." Paige replied, "It took me a long time to admit it to myself and even then I only told a few of my closest friends. Eventually they convinced me to talk to Ms. Sauve. I came to her yesterday after I found out from Nadia and Brandy that you had been involved with Dean. She put two and two together and we figured that he had done it to someone, again."

"Again?" Kendra asked.

"Yeah, Dean raped me at a party last year." Paige continued, "It took me months to come to grips with it, and when I finally did, I decided to press charges against him."

"Then why is that monster still walking the streets?" Brandy inquired.

"Because the legal system sucks lemons, hon." Paige observed, " The D.A. said he believed me, but by me waiting so long to come forward he said they would have a weak case, at best. The case is still pending while they try to get more evidence to nail Dean. They even took him downtown for questioning. I had hoped that would scare him and he wouldn't ever think of doing this to anybody else again. I guess I was wrong. What makes it so frustrating is that I can't even go public with what happened, so I can at least warn other girls about him."

"What do you mean?" Nadia asked.

"Since Dean is still a minor, his identity has to be kept private unless he's convicted of a crime. I mean it's insane, he commits the crime but he has more protection under the law than me." Paige revealed.

"So what chance does my daughter have by going to court with this?" Mrs. Knight asked.

"I can't make any guarantees, but hopefully by your daughter and Paige testifying against Dean, it'll be enough to put him away for a very long time." Ms. Sauve answered as honestly as she could.

The session lasted for another hour, with Paige and Allie talking about how they were coping with everything that had happened to them. Once the session was over, Ms. Sauve suggested that Allie continue to see her on at least a weekly basis, and the girls could come with her if Allie wanted them to. Allie said she would continue coming and asked Paige if she wouldn't mind sitting in on a few sessions occasionally. Paige replied that she didn't mind a bit.

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A few days passed and things seemed to be getting back to normal, or as normal as could be expected given the circumstances. Nadia was moving down the hallway, with Lee at her side.

"So are we still on for this Friday?" Lee asked.

"Of course. Where are we going to go?" Nadia questioned.

"I was thinking of seeing a movie. We can go see the new Matrix movie that just came out." Lee suggested.

Nadia wasn't into science fiction movies, but she was willing to adjust if it meant spending time with her sweetie.

"Okay. Do you want to meet there?" Nadia asked.

"Actually, I was thinking since the theatre is only a couple of blocks from your house, I could come to your house and we could walk from there together?" Lee suggested.

"That'd be great!" Nadia exclaimed.

As they were walking, they passed a guy who put a rose into a locker and then quickly walked away.

"That's so romantic. I bet that rose is for his girlfriend." Nadia commented. Lee just shrugged his shoulders in agreement.

At lunch Nadia was beaming about her date. As she sat with Kendra, she told her about a new outfit she had gotten, just for the occasion. But Kendra seemed a little distant.

"Hey Kendra, is everything all right?" Nadia asked.

"Yeah, I just zoned out for a minute. One of the volunteers in my Dragon dance had to drop out. I don't know if I'm going to be able to find a replacement this late." Kendra revealed.

"That's too bad. I'm sure you'll be able to figure out something." Nadia said trying to comfort her.

Just then Allie walked to their table and sat down.

"How's everything Allie?" Kendra asked.

"It's getting better, one day at a time. I had another session with Ms. Sauve yesterday. I feel better each time I talk to her. Paige was even at this session and made a joke to Ms. Sauve. Something about all the girls she brings to her for help, she should get a co-op job working for the guidance office." Allie told them. "So, Nadia, have you and Lee decided where you are going on your date?"

"We're going to see the Matrix." Nadia replied, "I know, sounds so romantic."

"You'll have fun, Lee is sooo in love with you." Allie teased her.

"He is not." Nadia protested, "At least I don't think he is."

The girls continued talking and teasing each other for the rest of the lunch period. For Nadia, it felt good to have things, kind of, back to normal.

If only it would stay that way.


	16. Dream Date

The week seemed to fly by and, before Nadia knew it, it was Friday. She was so excited and nervous that she hardly knew what to do. Allie had agreed to come over to her house after school and help her with her hair and make-up.

"So, how does this look?" Allie said as she held up a small mirror for Nadia to inspect the results of her work.

"Wow, I almost look like I could be on a magazine cover." Nadia replied approvingly, "I hope Lee likes it."

"He'd have to be blind not to." Allie said reassuring her.

"I bet Kendra would flip if she could see me right now." Nadia stated.

"Where is she anyway?" Allie asked.

"She's working on her part of the holiday pageant. She said she really wanted to be here this afternoon, but I told her that I understood." Nadia revealed.

"Well by the looks of it, it looks like you're going to have us all beat in the love department." Allie said, trying to build up her friend's confidence.

"I don't know about that." Nadia paused, "I hope all of this talk about dates and relationships isn't making you feel uncomfortable."

"Not really. It's not that I'm trying to pretend nothing happened, it'll be with me for the rest of my life. It's just that Ms. Sauve said that part of recovery is being able to move past it and not dwell on it. I don't want to spend the rest of my life stuck in one horrible night. I plan on living the rest of my life to the fullest. Someday I think I'll be ready to even date again." Allie said, revealing her most recent observations about herself.

"I just didn't want to get too personal is all." Nadia stated.

"No way, it feels good to talk about it to my friends. I guess it's sort of therapeutic." Allie replied, "But we'd better talk less so you can be ready when Lee finally gets here."

"You're right!" Nadia said as she went to her closet.

Lee arrived at Nadia's house at a quarter past seven. He was feeling nervous about his date with Nadia, but what he didn't realize was that she was just as nervous as him. He hesitated before ringing the doorbell. Nadia's Dad answered the door and invited Lee inside. Lee expected to get the third degree from her Dad, but to his surprise, he was actually nice to him. He talked to him for a while about sports and news in general. Then Nadia entered the living room and Lee couldn't believe his eyes. He had always thought she was cute, but tonight she was a total knockout. Lee had brought her a single rose, an idea he got from seeing the guy in the hallway the other day. He went to give the rose to her and tell her how beautiful she looked, but whatever he said must've come out as a jumbled mess, because Nadia just giggled and said "Thank you for the rose."

After posing for endless pictures by her parents, Nadia and Lee were ready to go. Allie walked out of the house behind them and headed for her house in the opposite direction. Nadia promised Allie she would call her later. As Nadia and Lee walked down the street towards the theatre, they hardly said a word to each other. Normally they could talk about anything with no problem, but now things seemed different, it seemed more serious. Nadia did catch him from the corner of her eye staring at her a few times, so much so that he almost tripped on a spot where the sidewalk had shifted.

When they finally arrived at the theatre, they stood in line for a good half hour waiting for tickets. When they finally made it inside, it was another long wait at the refreshment stand. But to Nadia it was all worth it, she was on her first date. They finally went into the theatre and found a spot in the front rows that had access for her wheelchair. She apologized to Lee for having to sit so close to the screen. He said it was fine. He told her that he usually sat up front in the theatre when he came by himself. She felt unsure if he was telling the truth or if he just didn't want her to feel bad. As the movie started, Lee really got involved and it kept his full attention. Nadia, however, didn't really pay much attention to the film. She spent most of the movie gazing at Lee. He occasionally looked back at her, but he didn't pass up a chance to hold her hand in the dark theatre. It was all she could do to keep her excitement from bursting out.

After the movie, they left the theatre among the crowd. Nadia excused herself for a moment to go the ladies room. She wanted to check her hair and make-up to make sure they were perfect. She wanted everything to be just right in case Lee wanted to kiss her goodnight. When she came out, she didn't see Lee at first. She wheeled a little ways and saw him with his back towards her. He was talking to his friend Lawrence. She decided she would sneak up behind him and surprise him, letting him know that they could go now. As she approached she could hear part of their conversation.

"So you actually asked Nadia out?" Lawrence asked.

"Yeah, we came and saw a movie." Lee replied.

"It must suck that you can't go out and really party, like dance together or anything. I mean don't get me wrong, Nadia is nice and everything. But do you really want to spend your best years dating a girl in a wheelchair? Come on, if you guys want to get a little more physical, she probably isn't even able to do much. It'd be hard to hit a homerun with her." Lawrence said to Lee.

Nadia heard enough of the conversation that she felt like crawling inside of a shell. What hurt Nadia wasn't the ignorant things that Lawrence said. She had heard all kinds of prejudiced statements from idiots before about people with physical handicaps. What hurt her to the core was that Lee didn't defend her. He didn't disagree with Lawrence, he didn't say anything at all. He just stood there like what Lawrence said was okay. She wanted to cry but was determined to be stronger than that. Lee was so involved in listening to Lawrence that he didn't see Nadia until she had reached the theatre doors.

"Hey Nadia, where are you going?" Lee called out as he ran to catch up.

"Home!" was Nadia's only response.

"Why didn't you tell me that you were leaving, I thought we were going to walk together."

"I didn't want you to be embarrassed by the crippled girl." Nadia said in a scolding tone.

"You heard what Lawrence said? But still, you can't be mad at me for what he said." Lee tried to explain.

"I'm not mad at you for what he said. I'm mad at you for what you didn't say." Nadia pointed out, "If you didn't want to go out with me, all you had to say was that you weren't interested. I'm not some sort of charity case that needs your pity."

"I didn't go out with you because I felt sorry for you, I went out with you because I really liked you." Lee replied.

"Liking me is one thing, but caring about a person is something else. If you truly care about somebody, then you care about how they feel and you don't stand there while someone else berates and makes fun of them. What Lawrence said about me hurt, but only half as bad as you not sticking up for me. If the roles were reversed, if you were in the wheelchair, how would you feel if I let some girl badmouth you and just let it go without challenging them?"

Lee stood there for a moment, thinking about her hypothetical question and unable to say anything.

"That's just a small taste of what my whole life has been like. Think about that and maybe you'll understand why I'm angry at you. I don't need a boyfriend that wants to be with me only when his friends aren't around, a boyfriend that acts like he's ashamed of me or something." Nadia told Lee.

"But I keep telling you, I'm not ashamed of you." Lee said trying to defend his inaction.

"Well, then answer me this, how come you've never introduced me to Lawrence or your other friends at school?"

Lee was left in front of the theatre, realizing that maybe part of what Nadia said was true. He had hurt the most important girl in his life, just to keep the approval of his friends.

Meanwhile Nadia wheeled home, alone.

When she made it to her house, her parents eagerly asked how her date had gone. She didn't feel like spilling everything to her parents, so she said that it went fine and that she was going to bed. All she really wanted to do was get her in bed and cry herself to sleep, but then she remembered her promise to Allie and she didn't want to break it. So she picked up her phone and dialed.

"Hello?"

"Hi Allie, I'm just calling to let you know I'm back from my date." Nadia told her.

"Well, how was it?" Allie asked eagerly.

"It was…nice." Nadia said, lying to her friend. Nadia thought that Allie had been through too much recently to hear her seemingly insignificant problems. So she made up a story about how Lee was so romantic and had walked her home, but that they decided to slow things down for a while. After a few minutes of conversation, Nadia said she would see her sometime that weekend and told her good night. She turned the lamp off in her room, bringing to an end what was supposed to be the perfect night.


	17. Connected

Disclaimer: I don't own Degrassi or it's characters.

A/N: Thanks to everybody who has reviewed my story for your support and your suggestions.

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Kendra was busy searching through the Degrassi library index on one of it's computer terminals. She was looking for books to complete her research paper on the War of 1812 for Mr. Reed's history class. He seemed like such a fossil, he only recently started letting students use internet sites as sources for their papers, but he still required them to use book sources along with them. "I could already be done by now," Kendra thought to herself. As she continued typing, she saw Nadia sitting at their table reading a book for her English class. Nadia had seemed down since her and Lee had decided to stop seeing each other. Even though Nadia said they both agreed to break up, Kendra wondered if Lee had dumped her and Nadia just wasn't telling her. Kendra thought to herself that she should ask Lee the next time she saw him, but then decided it would be better to keep her nose out of Nadia's business. If Nadia wanted her to know, she would tell her when she was ready.

"Man, this is taking way too long." Kendra said as she sat down at the table with a stack of books.

"How do you think people wrote papers before the internet?" Nadia replied sarcastically.

"Normally it wouldn't bother me, but with this paper, the Holidays-Around-the-World celebration, and ice-skating, there just aren't enough hours in the day. I haven't even started putting my skating routine together yet." Kendra confessed.

"It'll all work out, trust me." Nadia said, trying to convince her friend.

"I wish I had your confidence." Kendra replied. She had just barely finished her sentence when Nadia had another one of her breathing spells. It seemed like they were becoming more frequent and more intense. Nadia reached for her inhaler and after a few puffs she was breathing normally again.

"Nadia, are you sure everything is all right with you?" Kendra said, pointing out to Nadia that she noticed something wasn't right.

"Yeah, it's just that with it being Fall, the cold air just makes things a little harder is all." Nadia said, trying to keep Kendra from worrying.

Kendra went back to do her research through the stack of books on the table, not fully accepting her friend's explanation.

That afternoon, Kendra waited in the gym for her group to arrive so they could begin practicing for the holiday show. But when two of the volunteers finally arrived, they informed her that they wouldn't be able to participate in the show after all. Kendra had made some changes to cover for the fact she had lost one volunteer, but being short two more would be impossible to fix. When the other students arrived for rehearsal, she let them know that they could go home. She was canceling her entry for the show.

Kendra sat in the gym by herself, alone with her thoughts. She decided she would gather her things in a little while and return the equipment she had borrowed from the Asian Cultural Heritage Foundation tomorrow. But for the time being, she just felt like sulking. Maybe this was a sign that her attempt to connect with part of her heritage was a mistake. As she sat with her head down, she could hear footsteps approaching her.

"What are you doing here?" Kendra asked.

"I just came to see what this big secret is that my sister has been working on." Spinner replied, " So, the big secret is that you like to come in the gym after-school and try to do your best impression of a depressed teenager. I give you a 6 out of 10."

"Spinner, shut up! I'm not in the mood. Just help me take some of this stuff home so I can return it to the Heritage Foundation tomorrow." Kendra ordered.

"What is all of this stuff for anyway?" Spinner asked.

"I was going to perform a traditional Chinese New Year Dragon Dance at the holiday show. But most of my volunteers quit, so I'm just going to cancel it. It was stupid of me to think I could really pull it off." Kendra revealed.

Spinner knew this was serious, his sister was always so confident in her abilities. Hearing her doubt herself like this seemed, somehow, unnatural. So he tried his best to cheer her up.

"Say Kendra, why don't we just take this stuff down to the Heritage building today and go for ice cream afterwards. We haven't done that in a long time. It'll even be my treat." Spinner said.

"Okay." Kendra replied, with disappointment over the show still in her voice.

Spinner and Kendra made a bus trip to downtown Toronto, passing numerous landmarks. Soon they found themselves in front of a big, brown brick building.

"Is this the place?" Spinner questioned.

"Yeah, go through the doors and up to the second floor." Kendra informed him.

The pair got on an elevator and walked down a second floor hallway until they reached an office that said Mr. Kuan Yin Chan, Chairperson. Kendra opened the door to see Mr. Chan and his son sitting in his office discussing, what seemed to be, a rather important topic. Mr. Chan looked up with a smile when he saw Kendra and her brother enter the room.

"Kendra, so good to see you again. And you've brought another friend this time. Pleased to meet you." Mr. Chan said, extending his hand to greet Spinner.

"Nice to meet you." Spinner replied.

"Mr. Chan, this is my brother Spinner that I've told you about." Kendra said as she introduced him.

"Ah, yes." Mr. Chan said, remembering Kendra telling him about her family.

"So, what have you been saying about me?" Spinner said to Kendra, with an eyebrow raised.

"Nothing too embarrassing." Kendra said with a slight smirk.

"How has your friend, Nadia, been?" Mr. Chan asked.

"She's been…fine." Kendra replied, unsure of the answer herself. "We just came to return these things that I borrowed."

"I thought you needed them for your Dragon dance at your school?" Mr. Chan inquired.

"I thought I did too. But most of my volunteers quit on me at the last minute and it's too late to find replacements. I'm canceling my performance and I didn't want to keep anything, in case somebody else actually needed to use it." Kendra revealed.

"But you were so looking forward to it. It was all you could talk about the last time you were here."

"I know, but I guess it won't happen now." Kendra replied.

"Maybe not," Kyle, Mr. Chan's son said as he stood up from his chair, "I'm part of the Dragon dance that's in the holiday parade in downtown Toronto. We have to practice for the parade anyways, maybe we could do one of our final practice runs for your school's show."

"That would be awesome!" Kendra replied.

"Okay, just write down the date and time of the performance, and give me directions to get to your school." Kyle replied.

As Kendra wrote down all of the information for Kyle, Spinner could see how happy Kyle's offer made his sister and things seemed right again.

As they left the building, Kendra made sure to remind Spinner of his earlier promise, which he didn't mind. They went to a local ice cream shop and sat in a booth that allowed them to see the passing traffic on the busy street. As they waited for Kendra's double-decker fudge banana split to come, it gave them a chance to talk.

"So how do you like the new job?" Kendra asked.

"It's okay." Spinner replied.

"Just okay?"

"I mean, if it allows me to save up and buy a car for me and Paige to cruise around in, it's fine with me." Spinner replied, "So how about you? Paige told me everything that's been going on with your friend, Allie."

"It was really rough for her at first. But I think now that she realizes that she doesn't have to go through it alone, things are going to be okay." Kendra answered.

"I hope you're not mad at me for not telling you about what happened last year. I had promised Paige I wouldn't tell anyone else. But if I had known that maniac Dean had gotten involved with your friend, I would've definitely broken my promise." Spinner explained.

"I'm not mad at you. I know what it's like to be put in a difficult situation like that." Kendra said, showing that she did understand.

As they were talking, Kendra's dessert arrived. It was bigger than the picture made it look, so she shared it with Spinner.

"At least now it makes sense why J.T. ran out and attacked Dean last year." Kendra said, continuing the conversation.

"Speaking of J.T., check this out." Spinner said, reaching for his pocket with a huge smile. Kendra read a sheet of paper with something written on it.

"A love poem to Raditch. I don't know whether to be disgusted or to think about getting Mom and Dad to have you committed, big brother." Kendra said, trying to imitate the way Charlie Brown's sister talked to him.

"It's not from me, at least that's not what it's going to say. I'm going to put J.T.'s name on it." Spinner told her.

"Why are you going to do that?" Kendra asked.

"Because, I'm sick of him always crowding me and Paige. It's almost like we're a bicycle and J.T.'s some third, extra wheel." Spinner pointed out.

"You're being jealous for no reason. I don't think J.T. feels that way about Paige. Plus he's her friend and I don't think she's going to be too happy with you embarrassing him like that." Kendra informed him.

"What Paige doesn't know won't hurt her. My plan is fool proof." Spinner declared.

"I hope the fool that planned it has thought about what's going to happen if he goes through with it." Kendra said, cautioning her brother.

The siblings continued to talk about each other's lives like they used to when they were younger. They hadn't realized how much they missed their conversations, until now. They were glad that their ability to understand each other was still as strong as ever.

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Next chapter: Kendra gets made an offer she can't refuse.


	18. I won't back down

It was another typical day at Degrassi, and Kendra and Nadia were busy talking to each other in the hallway between classes.

"So, are you going to come watch me skate after school?" Kendra asked.

"Of course, I wouldn't miss it." Nadia replied.

"Okay, then I'll meet you inside the skating rink." Kendra told her.

"Okay." Nadia said as she turned to go to her next class.

In a way, Kendra was grateful that things had turned out the way they did in regards to her part in the holiday show. Since Kyle and his group were going to put on a performance in her place, it meant that she could put more of her time into her skating performance for the Ice Festival. But as her thoughts were wandering, she suddenly realized that she had better hurry up if she wanted to make it to gym class on time.

She rushed through the girls' change room and got dressed, hoping their coach wouldn't count her late. Luckily, Brandy was still getting changed into her gym clothes, which meant that at least Kendra wouldn't be the last one out of the change room.

"You'd better hurry up or coach is going to have both of us running laps." Brandy reminded her.

"I'm ready. Let's go!" Kendra said, heading for the door.

As the girls went through the door, the sun was shining brightly outside on a cool, crisp day. They jogged towards the practice field, but were stopped when they heard a noise coming from some nearby bushes. They were startled to hear a voice come out of the bushes.

"Hey Kendra, come here," the voice said in a rather hushed tone, "I need to ask you something."

"Don't go over there!" Brandy exclaimed, "It could be some weirdo hiding in the bushes."

"It's all right, I know the weirdo." Kendra replied, "Spinner, I know I've told you to get lost before, but this isn't what I meant."

"Look, I can't waste time trading insults with you. I need you to do me a really huge favor. I need you to go and get me a pair of gym shorts from the change room." Spinner begged.

"What do you need with gym shorts and why do you need me to get them?" Kendra asked.

"Because I figured you would be coming this way for gym class and..…," Spinner paused for a moment, "and because I'm not wearing any pants."

"Gross!" Kendra shrieked.

"I still have on underwear, you moron." Spinner pointed out.

"Then why are you hiding in the bushes in your underwear?" Kendra kept probing.

"Fine, you're going to hear it anyways. I got J.T. good this morning with my Ode to Raditch. But he got me right back by ripping off my warm-up pants in the middle of the hallway in front of Paige and everybody. After that happened, I just took off and decided to duck into the bushes here. I hoped you would eventually come by." Spinner confessed.

Brandy couldn't help but giggle a little, but that was only because Kendra was laughing so loudly at Spinner. In between her laughter, Kendra tried to remind Spinner that she had warned him the other day about his practical joke backfiring. Spinner was quick to interrupt her lecture.

"Okay, now that you've gotten that out of your system, can you please go find something for me to put on." Spinner said pleadingly.

"All right, all right, I'll get you something, but only because I don't want to be known as the girl who's brother got arrested for public indecency." Kendra said, walking back into the school.

"Thank you!" Spinner replied in an impatient tone.

After bringing the shorts for her brother, Kendra hurried to the practice field. She expected the coach to make her run for the rest of the class period for being late. Lucky for her, Brandy had made up an excuse for her. She had said that Kendra had to take an important message to her brother from their Mom. Kendra quickly took a spot in the line that was performing kicking drills and tried not to draw any more attention to herself for the rest of the period.

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By the end of the day, Kendra couldn't wait for Ms. Kwan's class to be over. She was so excited to strap on her skates and hit the ice. When the bell finally rang, she got her stuff from her locker and made her way to the Victoria Village Arena. After Kendra had made it inside and had changed into her ice skates, she began gliding around the ice rink in soft, relaxed patterns. On the ice she could let herself go in the moment, each movement an expression of her very being. Time seemed to stand still and she tuned out the world around her. She hadn't noticed that her best friend had arrived, so Nadia called out her name. Kendra came back to reality and went over to talk to her friend.

"Wow, you were incredible!" Nadia said, praising her friend's performance.

"You really think so?" Kendra asked.

"Yeah, you're going to have the best performance of the night." Nadia assured her.

"That was quite impressive." A voice from the entrance tunnel said.

Kendra turned to see that Mrs. Lavonne, the Ice Festival coordinator, was complimenting her performance as well.

"Wow, thank you." Kendra responded.

"You're one of our top skaters, without a doubt. Which is why I've come to make you an important offer." Mrs. Lavonne revealed.

"What is it?" Kendra asked curiously.

"Well, it seems this year that we're short handed on the staff for the Ice Festival because there haven't been as many volunteers as in the years past. So we're asking some of our more experienced skaters to help coach and supervise our younger skaters for the festival." Mrs. Lavonne told her.

"Are you asking me to be a coach?" Kendra asked.

"Yes, we could really use your help. Of course, you know this will take away some practice time from your own performance, but I don't see any other way we can pull the show off. I've already gotten another student to sign up as a coach, your classmate Manny Santos."

Kendra thought about what Mrs. Lavonne was asking her to do. Kendra really enjoyed watching the younger kids on the ice. It would be selfish of her to not help the younger ones who really wanted to skate in the show. Plus Kendra couldn't get one thought out of her mind. If she said no, an entire generation of local skaters would be under the influence of Manny.

"I'll do it Mrs. Lavonne, I'll be one of the coaches." Kendra agreed.

"Thank you so much Kendra, your help will be definitely appreciated." Mrs. Lavonne answered.

The next day at school Kendra was at her locker when she felt somebody stop behind her, so she turned around.

"Hi Manny." Kendra said, sounding less than enthused.

"So, I heard you're going to be one of the junior coaches for the Ice Festival." Manny inquired.

"Yeah, Mrs. Lavonne asked me yesterday." Kendra replied.

"I guess Mrs. Lavonne was right, they really are desperate for help." Manny said, in a condescending tone.

Kendra just gave Manny a 'go to hell' look, and Manny soon disappeared down the hallway. Manny may have been skating longer than Kendra and she might be really graceful on the ice, but this forced Kendra to decide that she wasn't going to be intimidated by Manny. It was hard for Kendra to believe that this was the same girl who used to be so sweet and friendly to everybody. But Kendra came to the conclusion that everybody had to change as they got older. Even though some people may not change for the better.

The rest of the day seemed to fly by, which was fine with Kendra. Nadia had told her during lunch that she wouldn't be able to watch her that day, but with an audience or not, Kendra intended to put her best effort on the ice that afternoon. Kendra was thoroughly enjoying the rush she got from being on the ice when her least favorite person showed up.

Manny stepped onto the ice and immediately started showing off for the younger kids that were being dropped off by their parents. Manny pulled off a front crossover and a double axle, and she had barely warmed up. But Kendra was determined to prove that anything Manny could do, she could do also. As Manny pulled off one maneuver, Kendra immediately countered with a move of her own.

"Well, let's see how good you really are." Manny said, laying down a challenge to Kendra.

"You're on!" Kendra replied, ready to do her best.

The girls continued their duel on the ice for about fifteen minutes, but it seemed to go on a lot longer to it's two participants. They only stopped when the large crowd of kids that had gathered by this time started cheering for both of their coaches. The girls turned and looked at each other.

"You're actually pretty good. I'm impressed." Manny said, complimenting Kendra.

"You're not half bad yourself." Kendra said, returning the compliment.

After their show of mutual respect, the two girls skated over to the crowd to get a list from Mrs. Lavonne, one that stated which kids would be in each of their groups. After locating all of the children that would be under her supervision, Kendra saw an unexpected face in the arena.

"Wow Manny…you were incredible!" Craig said, complimenting Manny.

"Thank you." Manny replied with a huge smile.

Then Craig remembered that Manny wasn't the only skater on the ice that afternoon. "Oh yeah, you were good too..… Kendra."

"Thanks, I think." Kendra answered, "So where's Ashley at?"

Kendra knew Ashley probably wasn't there, but she said it just to remind Manny of Craig's girlfriend.

"Um, she's not here. I brought Angie for practice and I decided to take some pictures for Joey and Sydney." Craig said as he tried to cover for the other reason he was there.

The crowd split into two groups going to opposite ends of the rink. Angela was in Manny's group and Craig spent the afternoon snapping pictures of that end of the arena. Kendra took her group and started showing them how to stay balanced on their ice skates. Most of the kids had some skating experience and didn't need much instruction. There were a few that hadn't skated very much, so Kendra had them hold hands and form a chain, with her at the lead. She moved slowly around the rink with them interlocked, getting them used to the sensation of gliding across the ice. They fell down a couple of times, with the entire chain bursting out into laughter. But eventually they were able to move around the ice rink without falling down. She then started showing them how to turn slowly in a circle on their skates. But soon, it was time for their rehearsal session to end. Kendra told the kids she would see them the next time and they all ran off to tell their parents what they had learned. Kendra was proud that she was able to help them learn so much in such a short amount of time.

It had started turning dark outside when Kendra finally left the arena. She was one of the last people to leave, Manny had disappeared almost immediately after the rehearsal was over. When Kendra started down the sidewalk towards home, she saw Spinner sitting on a bench nearby.

"What are you doing sitting out here, shouldn't you be at work?" Kendra asked.

"I've been walking around for a couple of hours. That jerk J.T. pushed me too far and my boss demoted me." Spinner answered.

"What did you do now?" Kendra continued to inquire, as they walked home.

"Well, I got J.T. this morning by embarrassing him in front of Manny. So he shows up at my job and starts giving me a hard time. He pushed me too far and I grabbed him and threatened to punch him out. My boss saw me and took me into his office where he made it clear about his 'policy' regarding workplace violence. He demoted me to dishwasher and cut my hours. I swear, I'm gonna take J.T. apart for this one!" Spinner confessed.

"Maybe what you need to do is calm down." Kendra advised him.

"Calm down? That's funny coming from you." Spinner answered.

"Then take it as a warning from someone who's messed up her own relationship." Kendra explained, "Instead of worrying about J.T. or about some stupid prank war, maybe you should just concentrate on making sure you don't make things worse at your job or with Paige."

Spinner stopped and thought about what she had said for a moment.

"I suppose you're right. Maybe you should start writing an advice column or something." Spinner said, teasing his sister.

"Yeah, I can see that. The girl who can't express her feelings to her boyfriend without making it some tragic, public event is going to tell other people how to fix their relationship problems. I don't think you're going to see that column anytime soon." Kendra replied, able to finally joke about the situation between her and Toby.

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Next Chapter: Expect the unexpected (Well it's not that unexpected if you've been watching the show).


	19. Family Ties

A/N: Thanks again for all of the great reviews on this story and my other fanfic, All Alone Now.

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As the weeks passed, the holiday season had arrived and it was in full swing. Kendra and Manny worked intensely on the ice show, spending three nights a week working with the young skaters under their supervision. They wanted to make sure they were ready for the Winter Ice Festival. As the performance drew near, Kendra was confident that the show would come off without a hitch. But she also noticed a change in Manny's behavior. Kendra figured it must be from the vibe that the holidays brought on, because Manny was actually being nice to her.

"You seem to be floating on air, and I'm not just talking about out on the ice either." Kendra told Manny, after one of their rehearsals had ended.

"Huh, oh…I guess I'm just happy is all." Manny responded.

"Sully must've done something really wonderful to sweep you off of your feet like this." Kendra surmised.

"Sully?" Manny paused, "It's not because of Sully, we broke up weeks ago."

"But it is because of a guy." Kendra kept probing, "So tell me who this great catch is?"

"It's just a guy I met. Let's just get all of the equipment together so we can get out of here." Manny said, quickly changing the subject.

"Okay." Kendra replied. She wondered why Manny, who liked to brag about her romantic life, was all of a sudden being so secretive.

Kendra grabbed the other carrying bag that they kept the show props in and followed Manny back to the storage area of the skating arena. Afterwards they both departed for home, without finishing their conversation.

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As Christmas drew closer, Kendra thought it would be a great idea to get Spinner something really nice for a gift. He had been so supportive of her and had even come to watch her as she taught her squad when he didn't have to go to work. Kendra's family wasn't rich, but she asked their Mom and Dad if they would pool the money they were going to spend on Spinner's presents with hers. She wanted them to help her buy him something really extravagant. She had remembered that he had mentioned a couple of times last year that he wanted an expensive MP3 player, like the one that Jimmy had. So Kendra's parents agreed to chip in and help her buy the player for Spinner. Kendra only had one problem, where would she keep it once she got it? Then she figured out one place where it would be completely safe, and she took off to see if he would help her.

Kendra was glad she made it to his locker while he was still there.

"Hi Terri, Hi Hazel," Kendra said as she greeted them, "Can I talk to Jimmy for a minute?"

"Sure." Terri replied, "We have a major test that we're supposed to be meeting Paige to study for, so we'd better get going."

"See you later Jimmy." Hazel said as the pair turned and walked down the hallway.

"So what's up Kendra?" Jimmy asked.

"I need to ask you for your help." Kendra revealed to him.

"Help with what?"

"I want to get a really nice gift for Spinner for Christmas, but I want it to be a total surprise." Kendra told Jimmy.

"Sounds nice." Jimmy replied as he continued to gather his things from his locker.

"Well anyway, I wanted to ask you if you would help me hide it at your house until Christmas?" Kendra asked him, "Spinner gets nosy around the holidays and always snoops around the house trying to find out where his presents are hidden."

"That's fine. What do you plan on getting him?" Jimmy questioned.

"An MP3 player, like the one you got last year. My parents are putting up half of the money and I'm going to pay for the rest of it with money I've saved from my allowance." Kendra said, telling him the rest of her plan.

"Do you really have that much saved up?" Jimmy asked her.

"Yeah, just barely. It took me most of the year to save it up." Kendra answered.

"But why don't you just spend it on yourself?" Jimmy continued to ask, "It's your money."

"I know, but it feels good to do something nice for somebody else." Kendra continued as she explained her motivation, "Spinner can be a jerk a lot of the time, but he can also be a wonderful person when he wants to."

Jimmy just looked at Kendra in amazement. He came from a wealthy family where they could buy just about anything they desired. He had never thought about what it would be like if they couldn't afford the things his parents lavished on him, the things he sometimes took for granted. And here was Kendra, the little sister of his best friend, ready to sacrifice getting something nice for herself just so she could show her brother how much she cared about him. It reminded Jimmy how much he had missed out on, not having a brother or sister of his own.

"So when are you going to get it?" Jimmy asked her.

"I had planned on getting it this afternoon, I was actually on my way to the mall now." Kendra replied.

"Well, let me go with you." Jimmy said as he pulled the straps on his book bag over his shoulders, "That way if somebody sees you with it, I can just say I bought it to replace my old one."

"Wow, thanks Jimmy." Kendra said as she gave Jimmy a hug.

"No problem, now let's get out of here." Jimmy said as the pair walked towards the front entrance of Degrassi together.

Jimmy and Kendra caught a bus to the local shopping mall. The place was packed with holiday shoppers, all searching for the perfect gift. After they maneuvered through the crowd, they finally made it to the electronics specialty store. It was the same store where Jimmy had bought his player. Kendra went inside and picked out the MP3 player that Spinner had constantly talked about wanting to get. She then took it to the sales register and pulled an envelope out of her bag that she had put all of the money into and she prepared to give it to the sales clerk. But just as she did that, Jimmy grabbed her arm and pulled it back down into her bag.

"I'll be paying for that." Jimmy said as he pulled out his store credit card that his father had given him. His father had given it to Jimmy just in case he wanted to get something when his parents weren't around, which was almost always the case.

"Jimmy!" Kendra exclaimed, "Do you realize how much that player costs?"

"Uh-huh, don't worry about it." Jimmy said, reassuring her.

After Jimmy made the purchase for her, the two left the mall and caught a bus back to his condo apartment. Kendra had only been there a couple of times before and she was always overwhelmed by the sheer luxury of the surroundings. She thought Jimmy must be the luckiest guy in the world. He had such a nice place to live and he had parents that could afford to give him whatever he wanted. He could even afford to give his friends expensive presents. But Kendra didn't feel right about Jimmy spending so much on a gift for her brother and she was determined to give him the money that she had with her.

"Come in for a minute." Jimmy said inviting Kendra inside his apartment, "Can I get you something, like a soda?"

"Sure." Kendra agreed.

Kendra sat on a barstool in Jimmy's kitchen while he grabbed two sodas from the refrigerator and poured them into glasses.

"Thanks." Kendra said as she took one of the glasses.

Kendra was trying to figure out a way of giving the money in her envelope to Jimmy, but she didn't want to hurt his feelings since he had done such a nice thing out of the kindness of his heart. So she started a conversation about something else, hoping to eventually bring the subject up.

"So, you haven't been over to the house much lately. It didn't really seem like summer this past year without you and Spinner in and out of the house." Kendra stated.

"Well, I didn't come over because Spinner's been busy with Paige and because…"

Jimmy stopped himself right there. Apparently Spinner hadn't told Kendra the real reason they quit hanging around each other last year. Now that he and Spinner had pretty much patched things up, it didn't seem right to drudge up what had happened with his MP3 player.

"…and because I was busy myself. My parents and I went on vacation over the summer."

"Wow, it must be great to travel and see all kinds of different places. I'd love to be able to do that." Kendra said with excitement in her voice.

"It's okay, sometimes." He replied.

"I guess your parents are going to take you somewhere exotic for Christmas, like they did last year?" Kendra asked, taking another sip from her soda.

"Actually, they have a nice trip planned, it's just that their plans didn't include me." Jimmy confessed to her.

Kendra couldn't believe what she was hearing from Jimmy. It was almost inconceivable that a family wouldn't spend the holidays with each other if they were able to. And Jimmy was so young, even though he was a teenager and older than her, his parents should know that parents and children should be together at this time of year.

"Do you mean you're just going to stay here, all by yourself?" Kendra asked, hoping she had only misunderstood Jimmy.

"That's the plan." Jimmy replied.

"But you can't spend Christmas alone." Kendra declared.

"It's all right, really. I mean it's not as bad as it sounds. My parents bought me a lot of gifts and gave me more spending cash than I can even use." Jimmy told her.

"But that doesn't make up for not being with your loved ones." Kendra stated to him.

After she spoke those words to Jimmy, he didn't say anything in response. He just sat there with his head turned to the side, looking down at the floor.

"Look Jimmy, you're like a part of our family and you can spend the holidays with us." Kendra offered him.

"Thanks, but I don't want to intrude. I'm sure your parents feel like they have enough kids to worry about without adopting another one."

Jimmy realized what he said as soon as it came out, but it was too late to take it back. He didn't mean to offend Kendra, it was just a bad choice of words on his part. He expected Kendra to come unglued at him, but she didn't.

"Um, Kendra, I'm sorry. I wasn't trying to make a crack at you or anything, I just let my mouth run while my brain stood still." Jimmy said apologizing to her.

Kendra wasn't upset or offended by Jimmy. Besides Spinner, he seemed to look out for her and she knew he would never say anything to hurt her intentionally. In many ways, she thought of him as another older brother.

"It's funny you should bring that up. Lately I've been going through some issues about my biological vs. my adopted family. And do you want to know the conclusion that I came to? I realized that family is more than blood links and genetics. A family is made up of the people you love and who love you no matter what. So that makes you family in my book. Look, I have to go now. But at least think about my offer about coming over."

Kendra leaned over and kissed Jimmy on the cheek and then showed herself out of the door. Jimmy just sat there for a while, thinking about what Kendra had said to him.


	20. I'll be watching you

A/N: Thanks again to everybody who took the time to read and review my story.

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It was a brand new day at Degrassi and Kendra felt like she was on top of the world. The Winter Ice Festival was scheduled for that night and she couldn't wait. On top of that, her grades were up and things at home were going pretty good too. The only thing that had her worried was her friend, Nadia.

Even though Nadia told her everything was fine, Kendra wasn't blind and she could see that things weren't. Nadia had seen her doctor a couple of times recently, but when Kendra would ask her how things went, Nadia would just tell her that it was a routine check up. As Kendra was thinking about Nadia, Jimmy walked by.

"Hi Jimmy." Kendra said.

"Hey Kendra." Jimmy replied as he stopped to talk for a minute.

"So have you thought about my offer from yesterday?"

"Yeah, I really would like to come over to your house on Christmas Eve. Are you sure your parents are okay with it?" Jimmy asked.

"Of course! I told my Mom and she wanted to know why I was even asking her, she said that you should know by now that you're welcome to come over anytime." Kendra reassured him, "Plus Spinner and Paige are going to be there. I could use someone else there to talk to while they have another one of their marathon 'slob-fests'."

"You know, making out with someone you love isn't as bad as you make it sound." Jimmy pointed out.

"Probably not, but it's not a great spectator sport either." Kendra replied.

"I get your point. Look, I need to find Marco before class starts, so I'll catch you later." Jimmy said as he hugged Kendra, and then took off down the hallway.

"Bye." Kendra said, as she turned her attention back to her locker. Just then she heard footsteps behind her.

"I can't believe what you're doing Kendra!"

Kendra turned around to see Toby standing in front of her.

"What, exactly, can't you believe I'm doing?" Kendra asked him.

"I'm talking about Jimmy." Toby answered.

"What about Jimmy?"

"I can't believe you're getting involved with him." Toby revealed to her.

Kendra was dumbfounded at first.

"Toby, what in the world, are you talking about?" Kendra responded, "What makes you think him and me are a couple?"

"You can't deny it. I saw you hugging him after-school yesterday and I saw you again just now. Plus I saw you two at the mall." Toby told her.

"The mall? You followed us to the mall. What, are you stalking me now?" Kendra asked him.

"No, I just wanted to be sure about everything before I confronted you today. Spinner freaked out when we started going out because I was only a year older than you, he's gonna go ape when he finds out about you and Jimmy." Toby stated to her.

Kendra was less concerned about Toby's accusations than she was about him ruining her surprise for Spinner. So she decided to play along for a little while and find out if he knew what they had bought. If he did, she would simply tell Toby that Jimmy bought the MP3 player for himself.

"So…what exactly did you see?" Kendra asked him.

"Not just me, J.T. was there also." Toby answered, "We saw you two go into a store and you came out holding a bag. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out Jimmy bought some expensive gift for his new girlfriend. I mean, he did date Ashley for a year and I saw how he liked to get her nice things."

Kendra wanted to bust out laughing, but she managed to keep her composure as she responded to Toby.

"Really? Do you have anything else to say to me?"

"You don't get it. You're going to ruin their friendship over a relationship that probably won't last." Toby said, trying to make her understand his point of view.

Kendra was irritated by Toby's comments. He made it sound like it was so unbelievable that any guy besides him would show any interest in her. So she decided to make a point of her own.

"Let me get this straight, what you're saying is that I should forget about Jimmy because he could never be serious about a girl like me?"

"Not exactly, you're turning my words around." Toby tried to explain to her.

"Oh, so what you really meant is that I should sit around and wait for you to decide that you want to be with me?" Kendra asked him.

"No, wait, that's not what I meant either." Toby said, trying to clear up the meaning of his statement.

"Well which is it? Is Jimmy so desperate that he has to settle for me, or am I so pathetic that I should just spend the rest of my life waiting for you?" Kendra posed to Toby.

"Neither one, you misunderstood what I was trying to say." Toby replied.

"Well you want to know what I think? I don't think you were worried about Jimmy and Spinner's friendship. I think you're just jealous that I might actually be over you." Kendra told him, even though deep down she wasn't sure if she really was.

"I'm not jealous." Toby said as he tried to deny what she said.

"You know what, it doesn't matter. I'm not going to stand here and argue with you about it.  If you want to know what's going on in my life, then come talk to me. But if all you're going to do is play private eye, then just leave me alone!"

Kendra gathered the rest of her things from her locker and started to walk away, but she felt Toby grab her by the arm.

"Just wait Kendra, please." Toby began, "I just want us to be friends again." Toby then paused for a moment.

"Would you like to go and talk sometime, like lunch today? Just the two of us."

Kendra thought about his offer for a moment.

"It's about time." Kendra answered, "And yes, I'd like to go and talk too."

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That night at the Victoria Village Arena, it was a madhouse in the backstage area. Kendra and Manny did their best to keep their young charges focused on their performance that night. The two girls had to deal with the fact that the children on their squads had short attention spans at their age, and that some of them were coming down with a severe case of stage fright.

"Manny," Angela Jeremiah called out, "There must be a million people out there." She said as she peered through one of the curtains.

"I don't wanna go out there!" Another girl said adamantly.

Manny knew how to calm down the young kids. She did come from a large family, after all, with younger brothers and sisters.

"Don't worry, there aren't that many people out there."

"Uh-huh." Another girl said, disagreeing with Manny.

"You don't have anything to worry about, I'm going to be right here the whole time. Just go out there and pretend that this is just another practice." Manny said, encouraging the children.

"You all are going to do great." Kendra added, trying to make them feel better, "Plus, when you get through, we have a special treat for you."

"Yeah, a treat for everybody." Manny added.

As the children went out on to the ice, Manny and Kendra watched from behind some of the decorations as their weeks of hard work paid off. The children's performance came off without a single mistake, making their coaches very proud. After the performance, Manny and Kendra gathered the kids and took them to the dressing room for the special treat that they had promised them. Some of the children needed a bathroom break, so Manny volunteered to take them. Meanwhile, Kendra began handing out bags of popcorn and candy. Kendra had finished passing out the treats to everybody in the dressing room, but Manny still had not returned. So she decided to go and see what was taking her so long. As she walked through the crowd of people, she didn't see Manny, but she did see Nadia.

"You and Manny did a great job with the kids' performance." Nadia complimented her.

"Thank you." Kendra said.

"So, are you ready for your performance?" Nadia asked her.

"As ready as I'm ever going to be." Kendra responded.

"What made you decide to do a synchronized performance with Manny?" Nadia inquired.

"Well one reason was because of time. By the two of us combining our performance, we get to be out there a lot longer. But it was really Manny's idea, which surprised me." Kendra revealed to her.

"I know, who would've thought you two would be friends again. I guess I could say the same thing about you and Toby." Nadia pointed out to her friend.

"You're telling me." Kendra replied. Just as she said that, Manny came walking back with the rest of the kids.

"That was a long restroom break. I was starting to think maybe you got lost or something." Kendra said to her in a joking tone.

"Actually, I ran into a friend and we started, um, talking. I also saw your brother while I was down there too." Manny said, only telling Kendra part of what had really happened. "I'm going to take the rest of the kids back to the dressing room."

"Okay, just remember we go on in about twenty minutes." Kendra reminded her.

As Kendra turned her attention back to Nadia, she noticed Nadia really didn't look well.

"Nadia, are you okay? Do you need your inhaler?" Kendra asked, worried about her friend.

"I'm fine." Nadia replied in her most confident tone, "I'm going back to the audience so I can find a good spot before you go on. Break a leg." Nadia said as she turned and wheeled away, leaving the backstage area.

Kendra stood there for a moment, her concern for her friend continuing to grow.

Before long, it was time for Manny and Kendra to go on and the kids were just as excited about it as their coaches were.

"Are you scared?" Angela asked Manny, "You're going to be out there by yourself."

"No I won't." Manny replied, "Kendra will be out there with me."

"Yeah, we'll both be fine." Kendra added, "Besides Manny wants to do well because she wants to get her special treat too."

Her comment made all of the children start giggling, and even Manny couldn't help but smile at Kendra's remark.

When Kendra and Manny hit the ice, they moved in a synchronicity that left the crowd awestruck. Manny had done most of the choreography for their joint routine, but she got a lot of input from Kendra. She had gotten her inspiration from that night when she and Kendra had skated against each other. The routine was like a call and answer session between the skaters. When one of the skaters would perform a movement, the other would answer it by doing a move of her own. Then they would perform a string of moves together in unison, which was then followed by the skaters trading places as the caller and the answerer. Their routine lasted for a solid fifteen minutes that kept everyone in the arena glued to their seats. When they finished their routine, the two girls received a standing ovation from the audience that seemed to go on longer than their performance itself, and the girls couldn't have been happier.


	21. Let me hold your hand

The Sunday after the Winter Ice Festival, Kendra decided she would just hang around the house and watch a football game. But as she was settling in on the sofa, she heard a familiar voice coming from the front entrance area.

"Spin, why are we going to watch this? You know I don't know much about football."

"Because it'll be fun. Plus you owe me after I had to watch that 'chick flick' with you the other night."

"I didn't pull a gun on you and make you watch it."

"Sure, but what would've happened if I had left early?"

Kendra knew by the voices that Spinner had brought Paige over to spend some time with him.

"Great." Kendra thought to herself, "Now I get to listen to her call a touchdown a homerun."

Kendra decided, however, that she was going to be nice to Paige.

"Move over loser." Spinner said to Kendra, indicating that he wanted her to make room on the sofa for him and Paige.

"Yes sir, 'Captain Boxer-Shorts', sir." Kendra replied in her most serious voice. That was the nickname she used for Spinner to remind him of what J.T. had done to him in the hallway at school.

"Captain Boxer-Shorts!" Paige said with a laugh.

"Come on. Why did you have to bring that up again?" Spinner asked Kendra.

"You started it." Kendra replied. She then got up from the sofa and moved to a large chair in the living room and made herself comfortable.

That afternoon, the trio watched the game as Spinner explained to Paige the intricacies of NFL coaching strategy.

"So the Bucs had a 4th and 5, why did they punt the ball instead of going for the 1st down like last time?" Paige asked.

"Because, Honeybee, the Bucs had the ball on their own 23 yard-line. If they went for the 1st down and didn't make it, the Panthers wouldn't have far to go to score a touchdown." Spinner said as he put his arm around her.

"Plus, the Bucs act like they don't know how to 'stop the run'." Kendra added.

"Oh, I think I understand now." Paige replied.

"I told you that you would get it in no time." Spinner said as he reassured Paige.

"That's because I have such a wonderful teacher." Paige replied as she gave Spinner a thank-you kiss.

"Here they go again." Kendra thought to herself. She made up an excuse to go to the kitchen for a while, so she asked if anybody else wanted a soda or some more chips. But Spinner and Paige were too involved in their lip-lock and didn't hear a word Kendra said. As Kendra rummaged through the fridge, the telephone rang and she finally got to it after the fourth ring.

The sound of the telephone interrupted Spinner and Paige's show of affection and they started watching the game again. Spinner noticed that Kendra had been in the kitchen for an awful long time, so he called out her name. He waited for a response, but she didn't answer him.

"I'll be right back, my love. Kendra's missing the best part of the game." Spinner said as he got up from the sofa. As he entered the kitchen, he saw Kendra sitting at the kitchen table with the phone in her hands and an unusual expression on her face.

"Hey, you're missing the game." Spinner said to his sister, but she didn't respond.

"Earth to Kendra. What's the matter?" Spinner asked her.

"I knew something was wrong, but she kept telling me that she was okay." Kendra replied, staring off into space.

"Okay, I'm lost. Who and what are you talking about?" Spinner asked her.

"That was Nadia's Mom on the phone. Nadia was admitted to the hospital last night and she's undergoing some kind of surgery right now." Kendra revealed to him.

"Hospital? What's wrong with her?" Spinner inquired.

"Something about her lungs. Her Mom didn't give me many details. She just said she would call me when the surgery was over and let me know when I could come and visit her."

"Spin, did everybody decide to move the party in here and forget to invite me?" Paige asked as she came into the kitchen from the living room.

"No, Kendra's friend is sick and in the hospital." Spinner told her.

"Is there anything we can do?" Paige asked, with concern in her voice.

"There's nothing to do, but sit and wait. We might as well be comfortable while we do that." Kendra said as she walked back to the living room. Spinner and Paige followed her and sat back down on the sofa. There was a great game on the TV, but Kendra hardly noticed. All she could think about was her best-friend.

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Nadia woke up in her hospital room and wasn't quite sure how she got there. She remembered she was sitting on the sofa watching television in the family room and she started feeling dizzy. She had vague memories of her parents helping her into the family van and the sensation from feeling the van moving. She also remembered being brought into the hospital on a stretcher and the worried looks on her parents' faces as they talked to some doctors in the emergency room. As she continued to try and piece together the vague glimpses in her mind, she felt an intense pain on the left side of her body. As she lay there, a nurse came into her room.

"I see you're awake now. So how you feeling, sweetheart?" the Nurse asked her.

"I've been better. My side is starting to hurt." Nadia told her.

"The pain medication must be wearing off. It's time for another dose anyway." The Nurse told her as she put something into the I.V. that was attached to Nadia's arm, "It'll take a little while before the medicine kicks in."

"Okay. How long have I been out?" Nadia asked.

"Today is Monday. You were in surgery for most of yesterday and spent most of the night in intensive care." The Nurse said as she looked at Nadia's charts and walked back out of the room.

Nadia realized it must already be Monday morning because she could see the sunlight from the window outside. As she stared at the sunbeams coming into the room, a lady in a white coat came into her room.

"Hello Nadia, my name is Dr. Mackenzie. I'm the doctor that performed your surgery yesterday."

"So, am I going to get better?" Nadia asked, worried about what the doctor was going to say.

"I expect you to make a full recovery. We corrected the problem with your lungs, but you had developed a lung infection. We drained the fluid from your lungs and now we have you on antibiotics to help." Dr. Mackenzie replied.

"Where are my parents at?" Nadia asked.

"They're in the waiting area. I've just finished talking to them and told them we expect to release you by the end of the week. They should be here in a few minutes. I have to make some other rounds, but I'll be back to check on you later."

Dr. Mackenzie walked out of the room, leaving Nadia to wait for her parents to come in.

The rest of the day was more of the same routine. Doctors, nurses, and her parents were in and out of her room, all asking her how she was doing. By that afternoon, traffic in and out of her room had slowed down. That's when she got a different visitor.

"So how are you feeling?"

"A lot better, Kendra." Nadia answered.

"I came to visit you yesterday, but you were still groggy from the anesthesia. So I told your Mom and Dad that I would be back to visit today. And I brought you this." Kendra said as she handed Nadia an envelope.

"What is it?"

"It's a get-well card from all your friends at school." Kendra answered.

"That's so sweet." Nadia replied, "So anything interesting happen at school today?"

"Not really. Everybody's busy getting ready for the Holiday show." Kendra answered.

"And how is your contribution coming along?"

"Fine, I guess. There's not a whole lot for me to do. J.T.'s doing all of the introductions, so all I get to do is watch." Kendra revealed to her, "I wonder if I should even go?"

"You have to be there. Kyle volunteered to help you, the least you can do is be there to show your appreciation." Nadia told her.

"I know, I know, it was just a thought." Kendra said, agreeing with her.

"Besides, you have to be there to keep Heather Sinclaire in line and make sure she doesn't try to steal the show." Nadia said, joking with Kendra.

Just then, Kendra remembered something.

"Nadia, I completely forgot. You have another visitor." Kendra told her.

"Who is it?"

"Lee. He wouldn't let me out of his sight after school, he was determined to come and see you today." Kendra revealed to her.

"I don't know why he wants to see me after all of this time." Nadia wondered aloud.

"I'm not sure what exactly happened between you two, but he does seem concerned about you. But if you don't feel like seeing him, I'll tell him to leave." Kendra promised her.

"No, it's fine. I'll talk to him." Nadia replied.

Kendra went out to the waiting area and told Lee that Nadia was ready to see him.

"Hi Nadia." Lee said as he stood at the doorway, "Are you doing alright?"

"I'm feeling okay, everything considered." Nadia replied.

Lee could still hear the hurt in Nadia's voice. But he was determined to say what he had wanted to tell her for a few weeks.

"Look, I know I'm probably the last person you want to see right now."

"Gee, why would you think that?" Nadia said in a sarcastic tone.

"I know I hurt you by what I did, or rather, by what I didn't do. But I just want to apologize." Lee told her.

"Why do you want to apologize, all of a sudden?"

"All of a sudden? I've been trying to apologize for weeks now, ever since the night of our date. But every time I got near you, you would just turn and head in the other direction." Lee insisted.

"I guess my question should be, why do you want to apologize at all?" Nadia asked him.

"Because I realized how much of an idiot I was. I've felt horrible since that night. When I heard you were in the hospital, it made me realize how stupid I was to worry about what my friends might think." Lee said, trying to make up for his actions.

"That sounds nice and everything, but why should anything you say make a difference now?" Nadia questioned him.

"Because…" Lee paused for a moment trying to say the right thing.

"Because, what?" Nadia asked.

"Because I love you. I don't care who knows and I don't care what they do or don't think of me. I'll do whatever it takes to convince you that I mean it. I've missed you so much, I just wanted to know if you still felt the same way about me?" Lee confessed.

"I don't know. You're going to have to give me some time to think about everything." Nadia told him.

"That's fine. I'll give you all the time you need." Lee said, trying to prove that he was serious.

"Well, while I think about it, you can come over here and sit next to me." Nadia said, inviting Lee to sit on her bed next to her.

Lee sat down on Nadia's bed beside her. He took her hand and kissed it. It felt good to just be sitting next to the girl that he loved.


	22. Is there Something I should know?

A few days had passed, and Nadia seemed like she was improving by leaps and bounds. Kendra came to the hospital every day after school to visit her.

"Your favorite visitor is back, once again." Kendra said as she announced her arrival to Nadia. She then handed a small bag to Nadia that had a gift she bought for her.

"Thank you." Nadia said as she sat the bag on the night table next to her. "You just missed Allie and Brandy." Nadia replied.

"I saw them in the hallway. They told me during lunch today that they were coming to see you." Kendra revealed to her, "Lee also said he would be here later, but that he wanted to get you some flowers first."

"Wow, he doesn't have to do that." Nadia said.

"He doesn't see it that way. He kept asking me over and over what your favorite flowers were. Finally, I had to tell him that if he asked me that question one more time, you would be the one bringing flowers to him in the hospital." Kendra told Nadia.

"You didn't say that, did you?" Nadia asked her.

"Relax, he knew I was just joking. You know I wouldn't hurt your Prince Charming." Kendra answered.

"What-ever. Well, are you ready for the Holidays-Around-The-World tonight?" Nadia asked Kendra.

"Yeah, I wish you could be there to watch everything with me." Kendra told her.

"It's alright. Liberty's videotaping it and Brandy told me she was going to make me a copy of the show."

Kendra and Nadia sat and talked for a while longer. But then Kendra remembered that she had to leave soon.

"Well, I guess I better get going. I don't want to be late for the start of the show." Kendra said as she leaned over and hugged her friend, "I'll be back to see you tomorrow."

"Hopefully, tomorrow will be the last day you see me here. The doctors say if everything keeps going well, that I'll be out of here by the weekend." Nadia said optimistically.

"That'd be awesome!" Kendra said as she smiled and turned to walk out of the room.

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At the show that night, the air seemed to be full of electricity. Kendra watched in the backstage area as the various participants went through their last minute preparations.

"Kendra, have you seen Liberty? I want to know when I go on?"

"Yeah, Marco. I think I saw her over by Manny and Heather." Kendra replied.

"Thanks." Marco said, as he rushed off holding his accordion.

Kendra decided she would get away from the chaos inside for a little while. She went outside and stood by a rear entrance for a moment, just so she could get a breath of fresh air. As she stood out there, she saw Kyle and his group from the Heritage Foundation walking up to the school with their props and costumes.

"I'm glad you made it." Kendra said as she greeted the group.

"We're glad we could help." Kyle replied, "Where can we get ready?"

"Just go through these doors and make a right at the end of the hallway." Kendra said pointing.

"Come on guys." Kyle said as they walked inside.

Kendra turned back around with her hands in the pockets of her jacket. As she stood there, she watched as the snow began to lightly fall. It was kind of soothing to watch nature at work. But just as she was getting in touch with her surroundings, she heard Kyle's voice again.

"Well, what are you waiting for?"

"What do you mean?" Kendra asked, not sure what Kyle was talking about.

"You need to get ready too." He replied.

"Get ready? For what?" Kendra said, still not having a clue what he was talking about.

"You have to try on the costume we brought for you. You're going to lead our float tonight." Kyle said, revealing the surprise he had been keeping from her.

"You've got to be kidding!" Kendra said, excited by the surprise announcement.

"I'm serious, but you need to hurry up so we can get you ready." Kyle told her.

Kendra hurried with Kyle down the hallway to put on the costume they had brought for her. It was a perfect fit. Then they showed her how to hold the staff she would carry as procession leader. As she looked at herself in the mirror in the dressing room, she couldn't believe her dream was coming true.

When the show started, Kendra stood with the rest of the group at the auditorium entrance. They watched as each participant took the stage. J.T. was the perfect choice as emcee for the event. His combination of personality and timing kept the audience's attention. Kendra watched as Marco played a medley of Christmas favorites on his accordion, some songs sounding better than others. But he still got a loud applause when he finished, nonetheless. Heather Sinclaire was next and her Celtic dance lived up to the hype that she had built up for it. Her performance was flawless and even though she got a long applause from the audience, she didn't think it was long enough. J.T. had to yank her off of the stage so they could go to intermission while they set up for Toby's tribute to Hanukah.

Toby came out and read a monologue with a small group behind him. Kendra thought he did a very good job. She had planned on finding him after the show to let him know so. When Toby finished, J.T. got back on the microphone.

"And now for something completely different. We have Ashley & Craig here to sing their original song, I'll Spend Christmas with You."

The audience watched as Craig, with guitar in hand, took the stage with Ashley seated next to him. Kendra thought it was kind of romantic that they were going to perform a duet together. Craig started playing their song and singing, but Ashley just sat there.

"I wonder what's wrong with her." Kendra thought to herself, "It couldn't be stage fright, Ashley's performed in front of people dozens of times before."

Then Kendra saw Ashley quickly stand up and witnessed, along with the rest of the audience, a moment that would go down in Degrassi history. The sound of flesh making contact echoed throughout the auditorium.

"Oh my God, Ashley just slapped Craig into next Christmas." Kendra thought to herself.

Most of the audience probably had the same thought on their minds because they let out, a seemingly, collective gasp.

As she watched Ashley walk off of the stage, with Craig trailing behind her, Kendra didn't really get the opportunity to fully take in what had just happened.

"Maybe they won't be spending Christmas together," J.T. said, trying to cover for what had just happened, "Anyways, it's my pleasure to introduce, a little earlier than expected, Kendra Mason and her Chinese New Year Dragon Dance!"

"Oh crap, we're on." Kendra said as she hurried to get into place in front of the Dragon float.

Kendra then led the group into the auditorium. They followed her onto the stage and put on a performance that had the audience mesmerized as they moved from one end of the stage to the other. Their Dragon seemed to have the audience hypnotized with its movements. When they were finished, they left the stage through an exit on the side of the stage. Kendra felt like she would never come down from the natural high she got from being able to do something she had dreamed about for so long.

After she changed out of her costume and helped Kyle and everybody load up all of their props, she said thank you to the entire group. Kyle said he hoped to see her again soon and then they left. Kendra returned to the backstage area to get the rest of her things so she could go home too. As she was gathering everything, Brandy came over to talk to her.

"Your performance was amazing." Brandy complimented her.

"Thanks. I'm glad you liked it, but I don't think anybody's going to remember tonight for anything that I did." Kendra replied.

"No kidding, wait till Nadia sees the tape I'm going to make for her, she's gonna flip. What do you think was up with Ashley and Craig anyways?" Brandy asked her.

"I don't know. Maybe I'll go talk to her tomorrow or something." Kendra told her.

"That may not be such a good idea." Toby said as he walked in from one of the hallways.

"So Toby, what was going on between them?" Brandy asked him.

"I don't have all of the details, but it looks like Craig was cheating on Ashley with Manny." Toby revealed to them, "I saw Ashley after she slapped Craig. We sat in the hallway for a little while and she only told me bits and pieces of what was going on, but I got the picture. She did not look good, not at all. She had this look like the whole world was crumbling around her. I've only seen that look on her face one time before. It was when she did something really stupid and Jimmy had broken up with her. But this time it wasn't her fault. I offered to walk home with her, but she said she wanted to be alone for awhile so she could think about everything."

"Poor Ashley." Kendra said, "I can't believe Manny did that, I thought she had really changed."

"I guess not." Brandy said, "But you can't blame it all on Manny. Craig has a mind of his own and he didn't have to cheat on his girlfriend, especially if he really loved her."

"I feel like I could punch Craig's lights out right now." Toby said.

"Toby, I know you're pissed off at Craig, but he would squash you flat." Kendra said trying to calm Toby down.

"I know. I'm not going to try to do anything to him, but somebody should." Toby replied.

"I don't think anybody has to do anything to Craig. The mess he's made of everything may be more than enough punishment." Brandy said, as she looked down at her watch, "Sorry, but I have to run and help to get everything cleaned up before it gets too late."

As Brandy left, Kendra grabbed a box so she could start her trip home.

"I'll see you later, Toby. I'll call Ashley this weekend to see how she's doing."

"Um, Kendra, let me help you with that." Toby said as he took hold of the box that was in her hands.

"Thanks. Are you sure you want to carry that all the way to my house?" Kendra asked him.

"I don't mind, really. Speaking of your house, where is Spinner at?" Toby asked as they walked out of the school.

"He had to work tonight. He traded with another guy last week so he could see my ice skating performance." Kendra answered.

"So how are you liking ice skating?" Toby asked.

Kendra and Toby talked about ice-skating, as well as the latest anime and anything else that happened to come up while they walked to her house. Kendra was glad that she and Toby were friends again, and so was he.

Even though the walk to Kendra's house wasn't that far, it was just long enough for the pair…

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Next Chapter: 'Tis the Season


	23. Tis the Season

As Christmas drew closer, things were getting pretty hectic around the Mason house. It seemed like everybody was trying to find the perfect gift for everyone else. They were also busy finalizing last minute holiday plans. Kendra was walking home, after having been at the nightmare that was the mall during the holidays. She had gotten gifts for almost everybody, but Kendra was still having trouble trying to figure out what to get for Jimmy. She wanted to get him something special, since he was so nice to help her out with Spinner's gift. Even though Kendra gave Jimmy enough money to cover half of the cost of the MP3 player, despite having to threaten to beat him up if he didn't take it, she still had quite a bit left. But she was unsure of what to get for him.

"What do you get for the guy," Kendra thought to herself, "that can buy whatever he wants?" Then it occurred to her. You get him something that he can't buy. Kendra hurried inside of her house to see if she could pull off her brilliant idea.

Later that afternoon Kendra went over to Nadia's house to make her daily visit. Nadia's Dad answered the door and showed her back to her room. Kendra could hear the sound of music coming from her room.

"So, are you trying to set a record for playing your Michelle Branch CD the most consecutive times?" Kendra asked as she entered Nadia's room.

"I just really like it. Besides it not any worse than you, and your love for Avril Lavigne tunes." Nadia responded.

"Okay, okay, I see your point. Here, look what I got for Jimmy." Kendra said as she handed a shopping bag to her.

"Wow, that's really nice. This is probably the last thing he's expecting to get." Nadia said as she complimented Kendra's gift idea.

"I just hope he likes it."

"He will, I'm sure of it." Nadia assured her.

"I guess we'll find out on Christmas Eve. You are still coming over, aren't you?" Kendra asked Nadia.

"I wouldn't miss it." Nadia replied.

"Good." Kendra said, "So, I see you and Lee are getting pretty cozy again."

"I don't know, maybe." Nadia replied shyly, with a huge grin on her face.

"There's not much doubt in my mind, Lee spent almost as much time in the hospital as you did." Kendra pointed out, "He was there every day during visiting hours."

"I know. He was just worried about me is all." Nadia responded.

"More like he's in love, which I think is so cool. But how do you feel about him? Kendra told her.

"I think I love him too, but we both agreed to take things slow for awhile." Nadia revealed to her.

As they talked some more, Nadia finally told Kendra about what happened when she and Lee went to the movies on their first date. At first Kendra got mad at Lee for not sticking up for her, but Nadia told her about Lee's apology and how she thought he deserved to get a second chance. Kendra said she could understand Nadia's feelings and said Lee had better not hurt her like that again. Kendra said if he did, he would have to deal with her.

"Look, I hate to bail, but I need to go over to Ashley and Toby's house before it gets too late. I'll call you when I get home tonight." Kendra said.

"I hope everything goes okay." Nadia replied as she showed Kendra to the front door.

Kendra started down the sidewalk, walking towards Ashley's house. Kendra had been spending the past few days trying to figure out what she was going to say to her. She knew that no matter what she did say, it wasn't going to change what had happened with Craig. But Kendra wanted to at least show her the same support that Ashley had given her a few months ago.

Kendra knocked on the front door and waited for someone to answer.

"Hi Kendra." Toby said as he motioned her to come inside.

"Hi Toby. I bought this for you." Kendra said as she handed him her gift

"Thanks, what is it?"

"I can't tell you, that defeats the purpose of it being a surprise." Kendra replied.

As Toby opened his gift, he was surprised to see she had gotten him the first two volumes of the anime DVD set he had been telling her about.

"You know me as well as I do, this is something that I actually want. I wish my Dad and Kate would take some lessons from you. I don't have your gift here right now, but you'll be getting it in about two weeks." Toby told her.

"What did you get for me?" Kendra asked him.

"I got a one year subscription to Shonen Jump magazine for you. That way you don't have to stand in line at the bookstore and you get it a couple of weeks before everyone else." Toby revealed to her.

Kendra was overwhelmed by the sheer thoughtfulness of what Toby had done for her. For just an instant, Kendra let down her guard and let her emotions guide her. Toby was stunned when Kendra actually kissed him. Not just any kiss, but the kind that would make, even the toughest teenage boy, see fireworks.

"Um, I didn't…mean to…" Kendra stumbled as she realized what she had just done.

"Now that's what I call a thank you." Toby, who enjoyed her show of affection, said as he tried to ease the awkwardness of the moment.

"Um, sure." Kendra answered as she regained her usually reserved composure. "Is Ashley here?"

"She's upstairs. Paige, Terri, and Hazel were here earlier to see her." Toby told her.

"How's she been?" Kendra inquired.

"She seems better, but she hasn't really said much to me about it since that night. I'll go tell her you're here."

Toby went up the stairs and knocked at Ashley's door. Kendra could hear them from the end of the hallway as Ashley invited her to come into her room. When Kendra entered, she saw Ashley sitting at her keyboard. It looked like she was in the middle of working on a song.

"I didn't mean to interrupt your music, I just wanted to say hi." Kendra said to her.

Ashley who was sitting in her dimly lit room told Kendra she could sit down.

"You didn't interrupt anything. I was just working on another song, but I needed to take a break anyways." Ashley replied.

"What kind of song is it?" Kendra asked.

"A song about people that say they love you, but are only saying what they think you want to hear and not how they really feel. I guess you could say I know about that first hand." Ashley revealed to her.

"I guess you do. You know I'm sorry about everything that happened." Kendra said.

"You don't have any reason to be sorry, it's not your fault that Craig is a no good, fucking liar." Ashley said with a tone of cold resentment, "I mean I could have handled it if he wanted to break up with me and I probably could have handled it if he wanted to leave me for Manny. But every time I asked him how he felt about us, he was never honest and up front about it. He was seeing her secretly for weeks behind my back, it's like he was playing some kind of game to prove how much of a real man he was. Some real man, huh? You know, I've been thinking. Maybe this is some sort of punishment for the way I've hurt people close to me in the past."

"You may have made mistakes," Kendra said as she sat in a chair that was turned around backwards, "but you didn't do anything that would justify what Craig did to you."

"Maybe, but enough about me. I hear you and Toby are getting pretty friendly again." Ashley said as she smiled for the first time in a long time.

"Um…we're just friends again." Kendra said as she thought about what happened with Toby downstairs.

Kendra talked to Ashley for a little while longer, trying to avoid the subject of Craig specifically, but showing that she was concerned about Ashley and letting her know that things would get better. Kendra then wished Ashley 'Merry Christmas' and she let herself out. As Kendra was making her way out of the house, she heard the sound of beautiful music coming out of Ashley's room. Ashley was putting all of her experience with love and heartbreak into her new song.

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On Christmas Eve, anticipation was running high for everybody. Spinner had invited Paige to spend Christmas Eve at their house with them. Kendra had invited Jimmy and Nadia over as well. As their guests started to arrive, Kendra and Spinner made room in their living room where everybody could sit. Nadia was the first to arrive as her parents dropped her off at the Mason house.

"Hi Nadia." Spinner said as he answered the door, "Kendra, Nadia's here."

Nadia wheeled into the living room and Spinner helped her out of her wheelchair and onto the sofa where she could see the TV.

"Just get comfortable, Jimmy's bringing over some movies for us to watch." Spinner said as he headed upstairs for a moment. As he went upstairs, Kendra came out of the kitchen.

"Hi." Kendra greeted her.

"Look at what Lee gave me." Nadia said as she pointed at the necklace she was wearing. Kendra inspected the heart shaped locket and saw the inscription that read 'L.R. Loves N.J. 4 Ever'."

"That is so sweet!" Kendra said as she returned it back to its place around Nadia's neck.

"I know." Nadia replied.

As they were talking the doorbell rang and Spinner raced downstairs to answer it.

"Hi honeybee." Spinner said as he welcomed Paige into the house.

"Hi Spin." Paige replied, "What are you hiding behind your back?"

"This." Spinner said as he showed her some mistletoe that he was holding in his hand. He then held it up over both of their heads. Paige then grabbed it from him and tossed it to the side.

"We don't need that." Paige said as she kissed Spinner.

All four of them gathered in the living room and talked while they waited for Jimmy to arrive. Finally they heard the doorbell ring again.

"What's up, James?" Spinner said as he answered the door.

"Nothing, Gavin." Jimmy replied as he walked in holding a rather large bag.

"What's in the bag?" Spinner asked him.

"Just the movies and something Kendra asked me to hold for her." Jimmy told him.

"What would you be holding for Kendra?" Spinner inquired.

"Spin, why don't you let him come inside and maybe he'll tell us." Paige said to Spinner.

Jimmy came inside and took off his coat. He then handed the wrapped box to Kendra.

"Here you go." Jimmy said.

"Now are you going to tell me what it is?" Spinner said.

"I was going to make you wait until tomorrow, but since you've been on your best behavior, I guess I'll give you your Christmas present early. It was my idea, but it's from Mom, Dad, Jimmy, and Me." Kendra said as she handed him the box.

Spinner unwrapped the box and his eyes lit up when he saw the gift.

"An MP3, you got me an MP3 player. Awesome!" Spinner said as he admired the gift, "Thanks you two."

"No problem." Jimmy said as he started to make his way over to the TV.

"Not so fast." Nadia said, "Are you going to give Jimmy his present Kendra?"

"Yeah." Kendra said as she rushed over to a closet in the hallway.

"What present?" Jimmy asked.

"Just be patient." Spinner said with a smirk.

As Kendra came back from the hallway, she brought a long cylinder tube with her and handed it to Jimmy.

"Go ahead and open it." Kendra instructed him.

Jimmy looked around at everyone in the room and then unscrewed one end of the tube. He pulled out what, at first, looked like a large poster. But as he unfolded it, he realized it wasn't a poster. It was a large portrait of Jimmy, Kendra, and Spinner when they were younger. At the bottom was an inscription 'He ain't heavy, He's my brother'."

"How did you get this done?" Jimmy asked her.

"Simple. I went and asked my Mom to help me go through her photo albums. We found a picture she took of us one summer. I took the picture to an artist studio and had him paint a portrait based on it." Kendra said.

"Wow, this is the best present I've ever gotten." Jimmy said. He really meant it too. This was something he intended to cherish for the rest of his life. He then hugged Kendra and gave Spinner their special handshake. Then everybody got some snacks that Mrs. Mason and Kendra had prepared in the kitchen. Then they gathered around the TV to watch the movies that Jimmy had brought over. Life, to the group, didn't seem like it could get any better than this.

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A/N: Well, that's all for this story for now. I'm going to pick it up again whenever they show us the second half of Season Three here in the US. In the meantime, I'm going to write some other fan-fics, possibly focusing on other Degrassi characters, including some of the older ones.


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